Elsa regains hurricane status as it heads to Florida

Tropical storm Elsa has regained its status as a hurricane as it heads toward Florida, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday evening.

Elsa was upgraded with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour, the center said. It was about 100 miles southwest of Tampa, Fla., according to the 8 p.m. advisory.

The hurricane is projected to make landfall along the north Florida Gulf coast by late Wednesday morning, and make its way through across the southeastern United States on Thursday.

Elsa strengthened to a Category 1 Hurricane as it moved toward the Caribbean last Friday, with meteorologists projecting it would be the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. It was downgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday, as it moved through the Caribbean.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) predicted that the storm could strengthen to a hurricane by the time it hit state’s Big Bend region Wednesday morning.

He said over 20 counties are under tropical storm warnings, 33 are under a state of emergency and 12 are facing storm surge warnings.

According to the National Hurricane Center, a storm surge warning means there’s a “danger of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, in the indicated locations.”

A tornado watch is also in effect for South Florida.

The hurricane has impacted efforts to find people who are still missing after the collapse of a residential building in Surfside, Fla. The death toll as of Tuesday afternoon was 36, with over 100 people still missing.