Hurricane Elsa threatens Florida's northern Gulf coast
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Hurricane Elsa threatened Florida's northern Gulf Coast on Wednesday after raking past the Tampa Bay region with gusty winds and heavy rain.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said forecasts called for the cyclone to come ashore sometime between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. A hurricane warning was in effect for a long stretch of coastline, from Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay to the Steinhatchee River.
"We ask that you please take it seriously," the Republican governor told reporters Tuesday in Tallahassee. "This is not a time to joyride because we do have hazardous conditions out there."
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in the Tampa Bay area, which is highly vulnerable to storm surge. The most powerful winds were forecast to remain just offshore from the beach towns west of St. Petersburg.
Elsa´s maximum sustained winds stood at 75 mph (120 kph) early Wednesday. Its core was about 65 miles (105 kilometers) southwest of Tampa. It was moving north at 14 mph (22 kmh), according to the National Hurricane Center.
Forecasters said Elsa would slice across inland north Florida as a tropical storm with strong rains and wind, then move on to Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia before heading out in the Atlantic Ocean by Friday.
Pedestrians dash across the intersection of Greene and Duval streets as heavy winds and rain associated with Tropical Storm Elsa passes Key West, Fla., on Tuesday, July 6, 2021. The weather was getting worse in southern Florida on Tuesday morning as Tropical Storm Elsa began lashing the Florida Keys, complicating the search for survivors in the condo collapse and prompting a hurricane watch for the peninsula's upper Gulf Coast. (Rob O'Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP)
Schools and government offices in the Tampa area were closed and most public events postponed as Elsa approached Tuesday. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, however, predicted hockey´s Stanley Cup finals game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens would be played as scheduled Wednesday night.
"We´re fairly confident," she said.
Tampa International Airport suspended operations at 5 p.m. Tuesday and planned to resume flights at 10 a.m. Wednesday following a check for any storm damage, according to its website.
Duke Energy, the main electric utility in the Tampa Bay area, said in a statement it had about 3,000 employees, contractors, tree specialists and support personnel ready to respond to power outages in the storm´s aftermath. Additional crews were being brought in from other states served by Duke.
"We´re trained and prepared, and we want to ensure our customers are safe and prepared for any impacts from the storm," said Todd Fountain, the utility´s Florida storm director.
Earlier Tuesday, Elsa swept past the Florida Keys but spared the low-lying island chain a direct hit. Still, there were heavy rains predicted in the Keys through Wednesday, along with strong winds.
The storm also complicated the search for potential survivors and victims in the collapse of a Miami-area condominium on June 24. Despite that challenge, crews continued the search in the rubble of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, on the state´s southeast coast.
In Georgia, a tropical storm warning was posted along the portion of the coast of Brunswick, with the National Hurricane Center saying tropical storm conditions with sustained winds of up to 50 mph (80 kph) are expected in parts of southeast Georgia.
"Right now, we´re basically looking at a cloudy, rainy and windy day," Glynn County Emergency Management Agency Director Alec Eaton told the Brunswick News on Tuesday. "I feel confident we can sit down and let it pass over us without any major impacts. Hopefully."
To the north in South Carolina, emergency officials were watching Elsa, but no evacuations were ordered during the peak summer beach tourism season.
The storm was expected to track inland, but coastal forecasters noted the worst weather was on the east side of the storm and could dump up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain and bring wind gusts up to 55 mph (88 kph) in places like Hilton Head Island, Charleston and Myrtle Beach.
Earlier, Cuban officials evacuated 180,000 people against the possibility of heavy flooding from a storm that already battered several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.
Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record, said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.
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Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina contributed to this story.
Shawn Frazier, 61, reinforces tarps over his Tampa home's roof ahead of Tropical Storm Elsa on Tuesday, July 6, 2021. Frazier said there was some leaking he caught during a recent rainy day. (Ivy Ceballo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Foot traffic was sparse and most businesses closed by late Tuesday, July 6, 2021, on Dodecanese Blvd at the Tarpon Springs, Fla., Sponge Docks where building were being prepared for the arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Athos Karistinos, 13, center, and his brother, Anastasios Karistinos, 16, emerge from their family's gift shop, Sponge Diver Supply, after helping their father fortify the windows and doors at the business on Dodecanese Blvd at the Tarpon Springs, Fla., Sponge Docks on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, where residents and business owners were preparing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Stelios Uzunbylu, left, and Jerry Kalouris, right, secure a tarp over a cargo hold on his sponge boat on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, on Dodecanese Blvd at the Tarpon Springs, Fla., Sponge Docks where businesses were being closed and boats were being prepared for the arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa.(Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Looking north at the neighborhood of Paradise Island on Treasure Island, Fla., outer bands of Tropical Storm Elsa brings a downpour of rain over the area on Tuesday afternoon, July 6, 2021. Elsa is expected to impact the Tampa Bay area the heaviest during the predawn hours of Wednesday morning. (Marc Topkin/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Jonathan Hines, left, catches a sandbag tossed by Jovan Williams, both with the City of St. Petersburg Stormwater Department, as they work along with 15-20 other employees to load up cars at the sandbag distribution site in the parking lot of the James "JC" Turner Fields,Tuesday, July 6, 2021 in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Melissa Loven, Qi Crystal Energy shop owner, left, and Crea Egan, right, prepare the store ahead of tropical storm Elsa Tuesday, July 6, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (John Pendygraft/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
John Jelkl, 71, has his wheel chair loaded down with sandbags as he leaves the sandbagging site in the parking lot of the James "JC" Turner Fields,Tuesday, July 6, 2021 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Pictured in the background, on left, are cars waiting in line for sandbags. "I stay in a place that is low," Jelkl said. "I gotta put down sandbags so water won't get in." (Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Tim Mullen, 47, and Michael Brissette, 11, cover their windows with hurricane shutters in preparation for Tropical Storm Elsa, Tuesday, July 6, 2021 in Tampa, Fla. (Arielle Bader/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Flight cancellations seen on a board at Tampa International Airport's cell phone waiting lot on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (Ivy Ceballo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Determined visitors head for Sloppy Joe's Bar while crossing a flooded Duval Street as heavy winds and rain pass over Key West, Fla., Tuesday, July 6, 2021. The weather was getting worse in southern Florida on Tuesday morning as Tropical Storm Elsa began lashing the Florida Keys, complicating the search for survivors in the condo collapse and prompting a hurricane watch for the peninsula's upper Gulf Coast. (Rob O'Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP)
Wind moves the grass and palm trees under a cloudy sky after the passage of Tropical Storm Elsa in Havana, Cuba, Monday, July 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Photographers take pictures of the sky full of clouds after the passage of Tropical Storm Elsa, in Havana, Cuba, Monday, July 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A photographer takes a photo with his cell phone of a rainbow that came out after of the passage of Tropical Storm Elsa, in Havana, Cuba, Monday, July 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Monday, July 5, 2021, at 4:50 p.m. EDT, and provided by NOAA, shows Tropical Storm Elsa over western Cuba with strong rain and winds. Forecasters say it will move on to the Florida Keys on Tuesday and Florida's central Gulf coast by Wednesday. The storm is moving over mainly rural areas to the east of Havana on Monday after making landfall near Cienega de Zapata, a natural park with few inhabitants. (NOAA via AP)
