Tropical storm Elsa: Ominous clouds over Florida as state of emergency declared

Floridians warned to brace for power outages, flooding and rain

Dark clouds loom over the Pass-A-Grille channel in St. Petersburg, Florida, US (Reuters)

Ominous clouds are looming over Florida’s west coast as tropical storm Elsa is headed towards the US state after barrelling through the Caribbean region.

The existing state of emergency was expanded by Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Monday to cover 15 counties that are expected to bear the brunt of the storm on Tuesday.

“All Floridians should prepare for the possibility of heavy rain, flooding and potential power outages,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter. “Now is the time to restock your supplies and review your hurricane plan,” he added.

Elsa is predicted to strengthen at sea as it will pass through the Florida Keys on Tuesday. Its maximum sustained winds strengthened to 60 mph late Monday over water, 80 miles from Key West, Florida.

Elsa was advancing at about 12 mph as it moved out to sea, with sustained wind speeds at 60 mph, according to the latest 11pm update on Monday by the National Hurricane Centre.

It added that heavy rainfall may result in isolated flash, urban and minor river flooding as Elsa is expected to approach the Florida Keys, Florida peninsula and southeast Georgia on Wednesday.

“There is a danger of life-threatening inundation from rising water moving inland from the coastline during the next 36 hours in the indicated locations,” the update said.

Wind moves the grass and palm trees under a cloudy sky after the passage of Tropical Storm Elsa in Havana, Cuba on Monday (AP)

In Florida’s Miami area – where a building collapse recently occurred – officials said they are hopeful they will not have to halt their rescue efforts as they work to find bodies from the rubble. On Sunday, a demotion crew took down the remaining portion of the south Florida condo because of a potential threat to rescue workers from storm winds.

Elsa made landfall in Cuba on Monday afternoon, dumping heavy rain and heading northwestward across the island, passing Havana just to the east, according to the Associated Press.

At least 180,000 residents were evacuated in Cuba ahead of its landfall. Insmet, the island nation’s meteorological institute said the storm sustained winds of up to 62 mph, with “some stronger gusts” as it passed through the island. Rain continues to pound Cuba, according to an update by Insmet.

The storm earlier battered the Caribbean islands on Saturday causing flash floods, heavy rains and high winds, resulting in three deaths, according to AP.

Two people in the Dominican Republic – a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman – died in separate incidents after walls collapsed due to high winds. One person died in the eastern Caribbean island of St Lucia.

Fishermen in Havana inspect their boats after they have been taken out of the bay to avoid damage from the passage of Tropical Storm Elsa (AP)

The storm ripped off several roofs in Barbados, causing damage to at least 743 houses.

Elsa was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season on Friday before it weakened into a tropical storm and is also the third storm on record to pose a risk to the US coast.