Elsa regains hurricane strength en route to Florida
Premium- The hurricane, moving toward the north near 10 miles (16 km per hour is now about 100 miles (165 km) south-southwest of Tampa, Florida
Elsa has strengthened into a hurricane again, the US National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday, forecasting a landfall along the north Florida Gulf Coast by late Wednesday morning.
The hurricane, moving toward the north near 10 miles (16 km per hour is now about 100 miles (165 km) south-southwest of Tampa, Florida, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kph), the Miami-based center said.
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After battering Cuba with drenching rain and strong winds, Elsa was moving towards Florida late Tuesday, where it was expected to strengthen into a hurricane as rescue workers pressed on with their search of the debris of a Miami condominium that collapsed almost two weeks ago.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported at 5:00 pm that the storm was closing in on the Florida Keys, the archipelago at the state's southern tip, and could build into a Category One hurricane.
The storm was moving at around 11 miles (17 kilometers) per hour) and was expected to make landfall on the north coast of Florida Wednesday morning before moving inland into the southeastern United States on Thursday, the NHC said.
With a possible storm surge of up to five feet (1.5 meters), Tampa airport suspended commercial flights from 5:00 pm Tuesday until at least 10:00 am Wednesday.
Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez called on state residents to start preparing for the storm, including the possibility of power blackouts and asked people to stockpile adequate supplies of food and water.
"If you are asked to evacuate, please leave," she said, reminding people that there were emergency shelters ready to accommodate them.
Elsa has left a trail of destruction through the Caribbean, claiming at least three lives. It was logged as the first hurricane of this year's Atlantic season on Friday before being downgraded Saturday to a tropical storm again.
Over 100,000 people were evacuated from coastal or low-lying areas as the storm cut through Cuba, with the nation's meteorological institute Insmet reporting winds of up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour.
But its forecasted westward path meant Florida appeared set to avoid the worst of the storm, with the southwest coast of the state set to experience a glancing blow rather than the direct hit expected earlier.
In Surfside, on Florida's east coast, workers on Sunday used explosives in the controlled demolition of the still-standing portion of a collapsed condo building -- a job accelerated for fear Elsa might topple the structure.
The condo disaster left 36 confirmed deaths, 29 of whom have been identified, but another 109 people are still listed as missing.
On Monday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told CNN that officials were "very hopeful" that, with Elsa's current path, they would not have to pause search-and-rescue efforts after all.
- States of alarm -
The 200 or so search and rescue workers on the rubble pile carried on their operations all through Tuesday, despite strengthening wind and rain.
Since excavations began over a week ago, more than two ton of rubble have been removed from the site.
The NHC had said Elsa packed maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour as it churned across Cuba near Havana.
States of alarm were sounded in the provinces of Havana, Mayabeque and Artemisa as thousands were evacuated from their homes -- efforts complicated by Covid-19 as Cuba endured its worst chapter yet of the pandemic.
"Protecting ourselves against Elsa cannot mean letting our guard down against Covid," Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said.
Shops closed in Havana and driving was restricted to civil defense vehicles.
Elsa claimed two lives in the Dominican Republic and a third in the island state of Santa Lucia during its earlier approach through the Caribbean, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) said.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said late Sunday on Twitter that there had only been damage to farm crops.
Elsa's advent represented the earliest date ever that a fifth named storm -- which does not typically arrive before August -- has struck the region.
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