Cuba on July 4, 2021, evacuated 1,80,000 people amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa can cause heavy flooding battering several other Caribbean Islands and killing at least people.
The Cuban Government has opened shelters and has moved to protect the sugarcane and cocoa crops head of the storm, which was offshore moving along the Southern Coast of Cuba on the night of July 4.
Most of those who have been evacuated have gone to their relatives’ homes, while some of the people have taken shelter at the government facilities. Hundreds living in the mountainous areas have taken shelter in the natural caves prepared for emergencies.
Portions of Cuba were forecast to get rainfall of 5 to 10 inches through Monday, with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches. Jamaica was also expected to get rainfall of 4 to 8 inches, with maximum totals of 15 inches.
The next target of the Tropical Storm was Florida, where the Governor has declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County, where a high-rise condominium building had collapsed last week.
Elsa Storm in Cuba:
According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Elsa’s center was near Cuba’s southern coast on the night of July 4, about 65 miles west to Cabo Cruz, and was moving northwest at 15 mph (24 kmph). It had maximum sustained winds of about 60 mph (24 kph).
The Center said that the storm was expected to gradually weaken while passing over Central Cuba on July 5. After the Elsa storm emerges over the Florida Straits, and the Southeastern Gulf of Mexico, some light-restrengthening of the storm is possible.
Throughout Sunday, rain fell intermittently in Cuba’s Eastern provinces as the storm passed by to the South.
Elsa storm: Impact on eastern Caribbean Islands
Elsa was a Category 1 Hurricane until the morning of July 3, causing widespread damage on several eastern Caribbean islands on July 2 as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season.
Barbados-
Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 63 homes that collapsed.
The Government has promised to find and fund temporary housing to avoid clustering people in shelters amid the pandemic.
St. Lucia-
According to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the tropical storm has killed one person in St. Lucia.
Haiti-
Downed trees were reported in the Caribbean country, which is particularly vulnerable to floods and landslides because of the widespread deforestation and erosion. According to the Civil Protection Agency of Haiti, three people have been injured by the downed trees.
About Elsa Storm:
It is the earliest fifth-named storm on record. It also broke the record as the tropics’ fastest-moving hurricane, clocking in at 31 mph on the morning of July 3.
Elsa Storm is an active tropical cyclone that affects and threatens the portions of the Caribbean and the Southeastern United States. It is the fifth named storm and the first hurricane of 2021 Atlantic Hurricane season.
Hurricane Elsa was first monitored by the National Hurricane Center as a tropical wave on June 29, 2021, and was designated as a Potential Tropical Cyclone on the next day, while moving westward across the Atlantic.
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