Elsa leaves Cuba behind and now threatens the southeastern United States

(Update with new position)

Miami, July 6 (EFE). Tropical Storm Elsa leaves Cuba and moves into the westernmost part of the Florida Keys, where rain and winds are being recorded, before entering the Gulf of Mexico and moving north near the west coast of the Florida Islands. Florida, where it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday.

At 11:00 a.m. local time in Miami (3:00 p.m. GMT), Elsa was about 105 kilometers west-northwest of Key West and 345 kilometers south of Tampa, in the central part of Florida’s west coast, according to the Center National Hurricanes. . (NHC) for the United States.

Elsa’s maximum sustained winds remain at 95 km/h, but are expected to strengthen when they are over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and especially before they make landfall, when they can reach hurricane status again.

On Wednesday morning, Elsa will make landfall, then turn, weaker, northeast and cross Georgia and South Carolina on Thursday in search of an outlet to the Atlantic.

Tropical storm force winds extend 110 kilometers from the center of Elsa.

The entire part of Florida included in the route was declared an emergency by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, who urged residents today to prepare for the storm and stay informed in case of changes.

According to him, there are about 250 members of the Florida National Guard who have been mobilized to assist in this emergency.

In Miami-Dade, on the southeast coast of Florida, a rainy day is expected as a result of Elsa’s passage along the west coast, but there will be no direct impact.

The search and rescue of victims is expected to continue in the Miami-Dade area where on June 24 a building that was completely demolished on Sunday partially collapsed to prevent their remains from falling on rescue teams.

So far, 32 people have been confirmed dead and more than 113 missing.

In addition to wind gusts, the Elsa Trail area can experience sea level rise as a result of a combination of storms, tides, rain floods, river flows, and hurricanes.

Elsa is not the first tropical storm to make landfall in the United States this year. Claudette in Alabama and Danny in South Carolina actually did.

Elsa, the fifth tropical storm of 2021 in the Atlantic, became the first hurricane of the year in the Atlantic basin as it passed through the eastern Caribbean all the way to Cuba, on Monday. EFE

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