Tropical Storm Elsa has passed through Haiti and is heading towards Cuba

Tropical Storm Elsa was heading this Sunday towards Jamaica and eastern Cuba, after having crossed Haiti where so far no major damage due to its winds has been reported.

Elsa was downgraded to a tropical storm this Saturday, after becoming Friday the first hurricane of the season.

However, its wind gusts did not exceed a maximum of 100 km / h, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC). The agency expects the storm to continue to ease this Sunday.

“There are fairly intense gusts of wind and light rain, but so far we have not recorded any damage”, said Jerry Chandler, director of Civil Protection in Haiti.

The storm is not expected to get stronger overnight, although “It is possible that it will experience a slight strengthening on Sunday afternoon as it approaches the south-central coast of Cuba”, NHC said in its early hours this Sunday.

According to forecasts from the meteorological center, “Elsa will move near the south coast of Hispaniola”, an island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, this Saturday evening, and near Jamaica and parts of eastern Cuba on Sunday.

Up to 20 cm of rain can be recorded over Cuba, the southern part of Hispaniola and Jamaica, according to the forecast.

FLOOD AND SLIDE ALERT

The National Hurricane Center in the United States reported that precipitation can lead to flash floods and landslides, “Some of them can be important.”

The meteorological phenomenon it could cause storm surges up to 1.5 meters above normal on the southern coast of Cuba; and up to 1.2 meters off the coasts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The Haitian authorities had raised the alert level to red on Saturday morning, the maximum, for the whole country.

In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew killed more than 500 people in southern Haiti and caused nearly $ 2 billion in damage.

Elsa must then go through Cuba, where Hurricane conditions are expected over the eastern part of the island between Sunday and Monday.

“The precipitation will be heavy and intense in some places, mainly in mountainous areas and on the south coast,” said the Cuban Institute of Meteorology, adding that the storm is now moving at 20 km / h with winds of 100 km. / h.

The Civil Defense has declared a “cyclonic alarm” for 11 of the 15 Cuban provinces, where for several days work has been carried out in anticipation of the damage that the storm could cause.

Elsa comes at the most complicated time of the covid-19 pandemic, when the Caribbean island of 11.2 million people reported on Sunday the record number of 3,519 cases in one day, which has accumulated 204,247 cases in 15 months and 14 deaths, bringing the total to 1,351 in March 2020.

It is sIt will be the third cyclone that Cuba will face during the pandemic. Last November, it was hit by Storm Eta and in August 2020 by Hurricane Laura, without major damage in either case.

This was not the case in September 2017, when Hurricane Irma hit 13 Cuban provinces for 72 hours and killed 10 in addition to 158,000 houses affected and 14,000 building collapses.

According to coincident forecasts, Elsa will follow the south coast this Sunday to “get closer to central Cuba tonight.” By Monday, Elsa is expected to cross central and western Cuba and head for the Straits of Florida, ”the US Hurricane Center said in the morning.

SURFSIDE FORECASTS

In southern Florida (southeast coast of the United States), Elsa could bring precipitation, flooding and strong wind gusts, But that will depend on how it develops across the Caribbean islands, the NHC said.

It is expected to arrive in the Keys, south of the Florida peninsula, around 6:00 a.m. GMT on Tuesday., then go up to Jacksonville.

Storm-related weather is bad news for the town of Surfside, near Miami, where the search for victims continues after the partial collapse of a building last week which has so far left 24 dead and 121 missing.

Faced with fears of a new collapse, authorities chose to demolish the rest of the building before the storm struck.

2.6 million vehicles in Florida set to hit the road this July 4 long weekend, Independence Day of the United States, according to the local newspaper Sun Sentinel, which quotes the American Automobile Association (AAA).

(With information from AFP)

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