Tropical Storm Elsa headed to landfall on central Cuba coast
Published:Monday | July 5, 2021 | 10:00 AM
HAVANA (AP) — Tropical Storm Elsa swept along Cuba's southern coast early Monday, and forecasters said it could make landfall on the island's central shore by mid-afternoon.
By Sunday, Cuban officials had evacuated 180,000 people as a precaution against the possibility of heavy flooding from a storm that already battered several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.
Most of those evacuated stayed at relatives' homes, others went to government shelters, and hundreds living in mountainous areas took refuge in caves prepared for emergencies.
Elsa was forecast to cross over Cuba by Monday night and then head for Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County, where a high-rise condominium building collapsed on June 24.
Late Sunday, Elsa's center was about 270 miles southeast of Havana and moving northwest at 15 miles per hour.
Its maximum sustained winds had strengthened a bit to about 65 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
The centre said the storm was likely to gradually weaken while passing over central Cuba.
“After Elsa emerges over the Florida Straits and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, some slight re-strengthening is possible,″ it said.
Rain fell intermittently in Cuba's eastern provinces throughout Sunday as the storm passed by to the south.
“So far it's a soft, serene rain. There are no downpours. The streets are not overflowing,” Yolanda Tabío, a 73-year-old retiree living in Santiago, told The Associated Press.
“I thought it could be worse.”
Rafael Carmenate, a volunteer for the local Red Cross who lives facing the beach in Santa Cruz del Sur, told the AP by telephone: “We have a little water — showers. The sea has not intruded. It's cloudy and gusty.”
Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.