Storm Elsa hits Cuba after killing at least three in the Caribbean | Continue to Miami

After hitting several Caribbean islands and killing at least three, Storm Elsa hit Cuba this Sunday, where he will stay for nearly two days before continuing his journey to Florida in the southeastern United States.

The Cuban Meteorological Institute (Insmet) said that at 10 p.m. (7 p.m. in Argentina) Elsa was at sea “90 kilometers south of Santa Cruz del Sur, Camagüey”, in eastern Cuba. “Maintains northwest direction at around 14 mph, with little change in intensity. Maintains 95 km / h maximum sustained winds“the agency added.

In this context, Civil Defense decreed a “cyclonic alarm” for 11 of the 15 provinces, where for several days work has been done to anticipate the damage that the phenomenon can cause. For the moment, “heavy showers and rains are reported in Granma, Las Tunas, Camagüey, Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus”, according to Insmet.

Too people were evacuated from coastal communities to marine penetrations. “Some 700 residents of Júcaro, on the south coast of Ciego de Avila, have been transferred to safe places,” the Cuban news agency reported.

Elsa arrives in Cuba at the most complicated time of the covid-19 pandemic, when the Caribbean island of 11.2 million people has accumulated 204,247 cases and 1,351 deaths since March 2020.

Friday, Elsa became the first hurricane of the Atlantic season with winds of over 120 km / h, although it was downgraded on Saturday to a tropical storm. This is the third cyclone that Cuba faces during the pandemic. Last November, it was hit by Storm Eta and in August 2020 by Hurricane Laura, without major damage in either case.

Miami road

According to coincident forecasts, Elsa will follow the south coast of the island this Sunday to “get closer to central Cuba tonight”. On Monday, “it is expected to pass through central and western Cuba and head towards the Straits of Florida.Said the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

“A gradual weakening is expected to occur overnight and Monday as Elsa crosses Cuba. After Elsa’s emergence over the Strait of Florida and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, a slight strengthening is possible,” he said. he added.

In South Florida, the storm could bring precipitation, flooding and strong wind gusts.

Hurricane-related weather is bad news for the town of Surfside, near Miami, where the search for casualties continues after a building collapsed last week that has so far claimed 24 lives and 121 missing.

Devastating

Passing through Hispaniola, Elsa killed two in the Dominican Republic. A 15-year-old boy died in the Bahoruco area due to a fall from a wall and a 75-year-old woman also died when her house collapsed in Bani, according to the Emergency Operations Center (COE ).

A third person died in Soufrière, on the island of Saint Lucia – in the south of Martinique– The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) reported on Saturday evening.

Haiti, meanwhile, very vulnerable to the elements of nature, has not reported any deaths or “serious damage”, although there has been damage in some crops, said Jerry Chandler, director of Civil Protection of this country.

As, stormy conditions persist in parts of southern Haiti and Jamaica, where precipitation of between 100 and 200 millimeters is expected until this Sunday, with peaks of up to 380 mm.