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- Officials at the National Hurricane Center reclassified Elsa as a hurricane given the storm’s intense wind speeds and rainfall.
- Caribbean islands, including the Windward and Leeward Islands, Haiti, Cuba and Barbados, are all watching the storm closely, preparing for high winds and heavy rainfall.
- Hurricane Elsa could hit the Florida panhandle along with parts of Georgia and South Carolina early next week.
After being dubbed the fifth tropical storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, Elsa has now been reclassified as a hurricane, taking aim at a slew of Caribbean islands along with Florida and parts of Georgia.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced the update on Friday morning, noting that hurricane conditions — strong winds, heavy rainfall and potential flooding — are most likely to form in the Leeward and Windward Islands within the next several hours.
Here are the 11 AM AST Key Messages for Hurricane #Elsa, now crossing the southern Leeward Islands. New watches and warnings issued for portions of Hispaniola and for Jamaica. More info: https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/hugeTWUUbv
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 2, 2021
So far, sustained wind speeds of up to 74 miles per hour have been recorded by NHC officials, along with a report of 86-mile-per-hour winds in Barbados.
A hurricane warning was issued for nearby islands, including Haiti, parts of the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, which are also subject to hurricane or tropical storm conditions.
The heavy rainfall will pass over Barbados as well and the outer rain bands are projected to reach Puerto Rico late into Friday and linger into Saturday, spreading to southern Hispaniola and Jamaica over the weekend.
Flooding and mudslides are possible given the heavy rainfall, along with a risk of strong winds and storm surge, particularly for Cuba, Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas over the weekend as Elsa tracks northward to the continental U.S.
Hurricane Elsa is expected to hit the Florida Keys as early as Monday morning, where heavy wind and rainfall will touch the southernmost part of the state. Some forecasters at the NHC are anticipating Elsa will move into northern Florida and impact southern Georgia and South Carolina by Tuesday and Wednesday, although this is still uncertain.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) issued a statement saying that officials are continuously monitoring atmospheric conditions ahead of Elsa’s predicted arrival.
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