Hurricane Hermine weakened into a tropical storm after making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend area early Friday — bringing soaking rain, high winds and thousands of power outages.

The US National Hurricane Center said the storm’s maximum sustained winds decreased from 80 mph to near 70 mph with additional weakening forecast as the system moves north-northeast at almost 14 mph. Hermine, the first hurricane to hit Florida in more than a decade, is expected to move into the Carolinas and up the East Coast with the potential for drenching rain and major flooding. Tropical storm warnings remained for parts of the Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia and up through North Carolina. “This motion is expected to continue today and Saturday,” the National Hurricane Center said.(nypost.com)…[+]