Tropical Storm Elsa gains strength and hits the Florida Keys: NPR

[ad_1]

Wind stirs grass and palm trees under an overcast sky after Tropical Storm Elsa passed Havana on Monday. Ramon Espinosa / AP Hide Caption

Toggle the caption Ramon Espinosa / AP

Wind stirs grass and palm trees under an overcast sky after Tropical Storm Elsa passed Havana on Monday.

Ramon Espinosa/AFP

FORT Lauderdale – Weather was getting worse in southern Florida early Tuesday as Tropical Storm Elsa began to batter the Florida Keys, complicating the search for survivors in the flat collapse and leading to a hurricane watch for the peninsula up the Gulf Coast.

In addition to damaging winds and torrential rain, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned of isolated, life-threatening storms, floods and tornadoes. A hurricane watch was issued for a long stretch of coast, from Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay to the Steinhatchee River in Florida’s Big Bend.

Bunches of rain were expected to reach Surfside on Florida’s Atlantic coast, inundating the ruins of the Champlain South Towers, which collapsed on June 24, killing at least 28 people and missing 117. Officials said search and rescue crews worked in the rain, but should stop when lightning threatened, and a garage area already filled with water on Monday.

Elsa’s maximum sustained winds rose to 60 mph (95 km/h) early Tuesday. Slow strength is expected through Tuesday night and Elsa could be close to hurricane strength before making landfall in Florida. Its core was about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Key West, Florida, and 270 miles (435 kilometers) south of Tampa. It was continuing to move to the northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).

Three to five inches of rain with local totals of up to 8 inches of rain is expected through Wednesday across the Keys and into the southwestern and western parts of the Florida peninsula. The forecast included the possibility of tornadoes across southern Florida Tuesday morning and across the Upper Peninsula later in the day.

Governor Ron DeSantis expanded the state of emergency to dozens of counties where Elsa is expected to pass quickly on Wednesday, and President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the state before the storm.

Forecasters expected Elsa to hit the coast of Georgia and South Carolina after Florida. The Georgia coast was under tropical storm watch, as was the coast of South Carolina from the mouth of the Saint Marys River to the South Sainte River. Forecasters said hurricanes could hit eastern Carolina and Virginia as Elsa moves north.

Forecasters said the storm could reach five feet over normally dry land in the Tampa Bay area if Elsa passes at high tide. Commander Colonel Ben Johnson said only essential staff were allowed Tuesday morning at MacDill Air Force Base, which is located along the bay on the South Tampa peninsula.

Elsa’s shift to the west avoided a direct hit on the lower Florida Keys, but the islands were still getting rain and heavy winds on Tuesday. Tropical storm warnings have been posted for the Florida Keys from Craig Key west to dry Tortugas and for the west coast of Florida from the Flamingo north to the Occlockoni River.

Margherita Pedroza, who lives on a boat off Key West, told WPLG that a stronger storm would have forced her ashore, but she was riding this one. “Just close the doors and get ready,” she told the television station.

“It doesn’t look as strong as some of the other storms that have happened, so I hope the winds won’t be as strong and there might be some rain, but I hope there won’t be heavy rain,” she said. .

Cuban officials have evacuated 180,000 people in protest at the possibility of heavy flooding from a storm that has already swept through several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people. But Elsa spent Sunday and much of Monday sweeping the southern coast of Cuba, avoiding most of the island from major trails.

I made landfall in Cuba near Cienega de Zapata, a nature park with a small population, and crossed the island east of Havana. On Tuesday, rainfall across parts of Cuba was expected to reach a maximum of 10 inches (25 cm) and a maximum of 15 inches (38 cm), triggering major floods and mudslides. But there were no early reports of serious damage to the island.

Lazaro Ramon Sosa, a craftsman and photographer who lives in the town of Cienega de Zapata, told The Associated Press by phone.

Sosa said he saw some avocado trees falling nearby.

Tropical storm conditions persisted over central and western Cuba Tuesday morning, even as the storm reached Florida.

Elsa was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season until Saturday morning and caused widespread damage to several eastern Caribbean islands on Friday. As a tropical storm, it resulted in one death in Saint Lucia, a 15-year-old boy, and a 75-year-old woman in the Dominican Republic.

Elsa is the first storm recorded with a fifth name, said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.

[ad_2]