Hurricane Nicole Slams into Bahamas, On Course for Florida

Hurricane Nicole slammed into the Bahamas on Wednesday as it approached Florida's Atlantic coast, US meteorologists said Thursday, sparking mandatory evacuation orders.

The storm has also raised concerns that a long-delayed NASA rocket launch could be disrupted again.

Nicole was packing sustained maximum winds of up to 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour and was on course to make landfall on Florida's east coast "within the next couple of hours", the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory issued at 0600 GMT.

Four counties in Florida were under mandatory evacuation orders, according to the state's Division of Emergency Management.

Nicole is heading towards NASA's Kennedy Space Center, located near Florida's eastern city of Orlando, having already disrupted plans to launch the agency's most powerful rocket next week.

The Artemis 1 mission had been due to launch on November 14, but NASA said on Tuesday it would be delayed to November 16.

A backup launch date has been set for November 19.

NASA said it would leave the giant 322-foot (98-meter) SLS rocket on the launch pad, where it had been placed several days before.

Some experts have voiced concern that the rocket, which is estimated to cost several billion dollars, could be damaged by debris from the hurricane if it remains exposed.

After two launch attempts were scrubbed this summer because of technical problems, the rocket had to be returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building to protect it from Hurricane Ian.

The uncrewed mission aims to bring the United States a step closer to returning astronauts to the Moon five decades after humans last walked on its surface._AFP