Residents close to the Northern gulf coast of Florida witnessed as hurricane Elsa hovered just off the Tampa bay area, ahead of its expected landfall.
According to the U.S National Hurricane center, Elsa, the first hurricane of the season was about 65 miles (105 km) southwest of Tampa and moving northward at 14 mph (22 kph), the NHC reported in an 11 p.m. ET advisory (0300 GMT, Wednesday).
Worthy of note, is that Elsa was the tropical storm that doused Cuba with heavy rainfall and claimed at least three lives in the Caribbean, Elsa strengthened to hurricane force as it moved toward Florida, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).
A warning from the hurricane center was in effect for nearly 200 miles (300 km) of the Gulf Coast stretching north from Tampa Bay saying that, “Elsa is forecast to make landfall along the north Florida Gulf coast by late Wednesday morning and then move across the southeastern United States through Thursday”.
The sky was gray but conditions dry on Tuesday afternoon in Venice Beach, about 70 miles south of Tampa.
After landfall, the storm is expected to be moving across the southeast of the United States, hitting Georgia and South Carolina with tropical storm conditions late Wednesday and into Thursday, the NHC said.
Tornadoes were possible across western and central Florida overnight, with further threats to northern Florida, southeast Georgia and eastern South Carolina on Wednesday.
However, strong winds and rain slammed Key West on Tuesday morning and caused the streets to flood as the storm passed offshore.
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