Shortly after Hurricane Nicole made landfall early Thursday along the east coast of Florida, it was downgraded to a tropical storm but it was still battering a large area of the storm-weary state with strong winds, damaging storm surge and heavy rain.

The rare November hurricane prompted officials to shut down airports and theme parks and order evacuations in areas that included former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

Authorities warned that Nicole’s storm surge could further erode many beaches hit by Hurricane Ian in September.

The sprawling storm is forecast to head into Georgia and the Carolinas later Thursday and Friday, dumping heavy rain across the region.

Nicole made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane before its maximum sustained winds dropped to 60 mph (100 kph) early Thursday, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was centered about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Orlando. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph (22 kph).

Tropical storm force winds extended as far as 450 miles (720 kilometers) from the center in some directions.

Nicole was expected to move across central Florida on Thursday morning, possibly emerge over the far northeastern Gulf of Mexico in the afternoon, and then move across the Florida Panhandle and Georgia.

A few tornadoes were possible through early Thursday across east-central to northeast Florida, the forecasters said. Flash and urban flooding will be possible, along with renewed river rises on the St. Johns River, across the Florida Peninsula on Thursday.

Heavy rainfall will spread northward across portions of the southeast, eastern Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and New England through Saturday.

Large swells generated by Nicole will affect the northwestern Bahamas, the east coast of Florida, and much of the southeastern United States coast over the next few days.

The storm was expected to weaken into a tropical depression over Georgia on Thursday night or early Friday.

Nicole became a hurricane Wednesday evening as it slammed into Grand Bahama Island, having made landfall just hours earlier on Great Abaco island as a tropical storm.

It was the first storm to hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that devastated the archipelago in 2019.

For storm-weary Floridians, it is only the third November hurricane to hit their shores since recordkeeping began in 1853. The previous ones were the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985.

Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club and home, was in one of the evacuation zones, built about a quarter-mile inland from the ocean.

The main buildings sit on a small rise that is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) above sea level and the property has survived numerous stronger hurricanes since it was built nearly a century ago.

The resort’s security office hung up Wednesday when an Associated Press reporter asked whether the club was being evacuated, and there was no sign of evacuation by Wednesday afternoon.

There is no penalty for ignoring an evacuation order, but rescue crews will not respond if it puts their members at risk.

Officials in Daytona Beach Shores deemed unsafe at least a half dozen, multi-story, coastal residential buildings already damaged by Hurricane Ian and now threatened by Nicole.

At some locations, authorities went door-to-door telling people to grab their possessions and leave.

Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort announced they likely would not open as scheduled Thursday.

At a news conference Wednesday in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that winds were the biggest concern and significant power outages could occur, but that 16,000 linemen were on standby to restore power as well as 600 guardsmen and seven search and rescue teams.

“It will affect huge parts of the state of Florida all day,” DeSantis said of the storm’s expected landing.

Almost two dozen school districts were closing schools for the storm and 15 shelters had opened along Florida’s east coast, the governor said.

Forty-five of Florida’s 67 counties were under a state of emergency declaration.

Sobi Hill is the tallest landmark in Ilorin, which from it, you can be able to view almost every part of Ilorin city.

It is located along Akerebiata – Sobi road, before Sobi barracks, Ilorin – East local government of Kwara State.

Climbing the hill to the peak top, takes about 45 minutes.

You are expected to rest in-between the journey, as you are likely to experience some stress as far as your leg muscles are concerned , it’s a bit tough , just as any mountain climbing should be.

Expect some sloppy small hills, as you approach the hill top.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) was the only structure left standing in the area where the first atomic bomb exploded on 6 August 1945.

It is located in Hiroshima, Japan. Through the efforts of many people, including those of the city of Hiroshima, it has been preserved in the same state as immediately after the bombing.

Not only is it a stark and powerful symbol of the most destructive force ever created by humankind, it also expresses the hope for world peace and the ultimate elimination of all nuclear weapons.

It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

With the blast in 1945, over 70,000 people were killed instantly, and another 70,000 suffered fatal injuries from the radiation.

Soon after the initial explosion, it was evident that the Genbaku dome has barely survived, and the people saw it as a sign to preserve it, so that it will remind them and everyone else in the world how destructive the weapons can be.

The Dome was only 160 m (525 ft) from the epicenter of the atomic blast, and everyone that was inside the building was killed instantly. Weathering and deterioration of the Genbaku Dome continued in the post-war period.

The Hiroshima City Council declared in 1966 that it intended to indefinitely preserve the structure, now termed “Genbaku Dome”.

The first popularly elected mayor of Hiroshima, Shinzo Hamai (1905 – 1968) sought funds for the preservation effort domestically and internationally.

During one trip to Tokyo, Hamai resorted to collecting funds directly on the streets of the capital.

Preservation work on the Genbaku Dome was completed in 1967.

The Genbaku Dome has undergone two minor preservation projects to stabilize the ruin, notably between October 1989 and March 1990.

The Genbaku Dome stands almost exactly as it did after the bombing on 6 August 1945. Changes to the ruins, meant to ensure the stability of the structure, have been minimal

A railway siding dating back to the Victorian era has been unearthed by engineers upgrading a train route.

The siding at Hillhouse in Huddersfield was used for harbouring off-duty trains and was built about 172 years ago.

It included train sheds and railway turntables for services transporting cattle, coal and other materials across the country, according to Network Rail.

The siding was discovered by workers on the Transpennine upgrade scheme who are preparing the route for more tracks.

Network Rail workers have spent three months uncovering the site near Alder Street and archaeologists said the foundations of the old sidings were buried close to the surface.

Hannah Lomas, principal programme sponsor at Network Rail, said: “This is an amazing insight into what the siding would have looked like over a century ago.”

Kevin Moon, project manager at Archaeological Services WYAS, said the discovery provided “valuable information on the early development of the railway system in Huddersfield”.

The route is being made ready for twice as many tracks in the future for faster and more frequent trains, a Network Rail spokesperson said.

Adapalm Plantation is located on a large expanse of land between Amaofor and Egbema towns, on both sides of the Owerri/Port Harcourt expressway.

The palm plantation was a significant source of foreign exchange before the discovery of crude oil.

The sway of trees, astonishing same-sized palm kernels, gentle feel of the breeze, and the view of the plantation from a distance is breathtaking.

When you take a stroll on the plantation, you will be marveled at how such a feat was achieved.

The history of Adapalm captures an impressive reminder of what the defunct Eastern Region set out to achieve under a federal system, which Nigeria started with.

Eastern Nigeria is blessed with fertile arable land that made palm plantation a highly viable enterprise that offers potential for employment, food security and poverty alleviation.’

It was on that ground that the Eastern Nigeria government under the colonial administration of Dr. Michael Okpara established the Ohaji Palm Settlement in 1953. Dr. Okpara, notably, established several farm settlements in different parts of Eastern region that provided the bull work for economic development. Adapalm occupies an area of 4,310 hectares of oil palm plantation planted between 1975 and 1978, while another 20 hectares were planted in 1995.

The main products of the company are Special Palm Oil (SPO) and palm kernel. The products expected from the value chain include vegetable oil, laundry soap, glycerin, palm kernel cake and oil.

The aim of the company was the development and management of oil palm plantations and their allied products; the mechanical processing of fresh fruit bunches at its mills complex at Ohaji.

Adapalm was later acquired by the Agricultural Development Authority Palm, from which the name AdaPalm was derived. The contributions of palm produce to the economy of the Eastern region are well documented and cannot be overemphasised. The outbreak of the Nigeria civil war truncated the operations of Adapalm.

Adapalm Nigeria Limited was incorporated on the 9th of May 1975, five years after the end of the civil war under the East Central State Government.

With the splitting of East Central State in 1976 into two states, namely Imo and Anambra, Adapalm was ceded to Imo State under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Owerri.

Unfortunately, successive administrations, especially under the military, abandoned Adapalm to rot away and its facilities vandalised. The administrative offices, workshop, residential quarters, electricity, water facilities, among others, were gone.

The place was virtually crippled. It reportedly took strict police security to secure the mills that are now being revived.

In 1983, the first civilian governor, Chief Sam Mbakwe revived Adapalm. At the initial stage, the plantation had over 800 employees while the company was making annual sales estimated at over N1 billion.

With the abrupt exit of the Mbakwe administration on December 31st, 1983, the company was once again abandoned. The subsequent administrations paid lip service to the company. Thus, nothing was happening at the company.

It was in this awful state that Governor Hope Uzodimma came on board as the state chief executive.

Former Governor Emeka Ihedioha had attempted to inject new life into the facility but his administration was short-lived and didn’t achieve much.

Without wasting time, Uzodimma embarked on a mission to turn around the company and bring it back to productivity and profit.

According to Governor Uzodimma, his government is committed to bringing back the company to help the state survive the global economic downturn caused by the so-called coronavirus pandemic.

“We have to look inwards to see how best we can restructure our economy, boost IGR strength and then ensure that our citizenry is also busy,” declared the Governor.

He said Adapalm, in its rightful place, would raise the internally generated revenue of the state, and the company on its own as a value chain can produce not only palm oil but also other oil-related products like margarine, Shea butter, and palm kernel oil, among others.

He stated that the government was keen on expanding the company because of the potential 35,000 jobs that could be created, explaining that the state could earn about N3 billion turnover, once the firm was fully revived.

Following the resolution of the issues that held the company down, the company was ready to start full production. The company reportedly is engaging some 120 workers to kick start production.

A tripartite agreement, which Governor Uzodimma has approved, has been signed between the core investor Roche, Government and the host community, to make it part-owner of the company.

Along the line, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reportedly expressed interest in transforming the mill so that it could take palm nuts from other smallholder farms. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele had said that the bank has committed about N30 billion to enhance oil-palm production in the country from which Adapalm is expected to benefit.

Government has reportedly commenced discussions with the CBN for a loan of N52 billion to be channeled into the Adapalm plantation. That would greatly leverage the company towards realising its aim of creating a palm plantation hub in Nigeria.

It is projected that the state would realise at least N15 billion annually if all the machines were in good condition and operated optimally: “Imo may soon no longer depend on federal allocation. If things go normal, we can make N500 million in a month and about N15 billion in a year. With this, we can take care of so many capital projects and improve the economy of the state.”

With such a loan, the government could establish more plantations across the three zones of Imo State. Besides, the mills and other operations would be modernised to increase capacity. The expectation is that when the company attains full capacity, it would employ about 35,000 people, which would reduce the rate of unemployment in the state.

It needs to be stated that Governor Uzodimma has made history. What he has accomplished so far in Adapalm is a great feat that has not been achieved since the inception of the company more than 60 years ago. The surprising thing is that no noise is made about these accomplishments that have a turnaround effect on the state economy.

The revamping programme includes the elimination of the old palm trees and replacing them with new seedlings, the Uzodimma administration is committed to accomplishing with time.