Tropical Storm Elsa makes landfall in Florida

Tropical Storm Elsa makes landfall in Florida

Tropical Storm Elsa hit the northern Gulf Coast of Florida late this morning in Wednesday—bringing heavy rainfall, causing power outages, and threatening high winds and flooding as she moved.

Elsa swept through Taylor County in the Big Bend area around 11 a.m. with sustained winds of 65 mph EST, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm has already caused flooding in the west-central part of the state and should hit northern Florida and parts of Georgia before Thursday evening, after which it will reach the Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic coast.

In addition, strong winds in areas of northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina could bring down trees and power lines.

Tropical Storm #Elsa made landfall in Taylor County along the North Florida Gulf Coast at around 11am EDT. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 65 mph at the time of landfall.

Info: https://t.co/905zOAYiId pic.twitter.com/pIif2y3Ygu

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 7, 2021

“Last month we had a lot of rain. If winds hit 40 or 50 mph, some of those trees will fall down,” CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.

More than 22,000 utility customers in Florida have been left without electricity on Wednesday afternoon.

ELSA IN FLORIDA🌀 | Video from Pine Island, FL shows the storm surge that crested the sea wall earlier today.

Video by: @tferguson10 | https://t.co/tvMVYIaQSv pic.twitter.com/u9E189QNMB

— News4JAX (@wjxt4) July 7, 2021

In the morning in some parts of southwestern Florida also experienced flooding. Affected areas included the Fort Myers area, where floodwaters made some roads impassable, the National Weather Service said. Elsa became a Category 1 hurricane earlier Tuesday but weakened back to a tropical storm on Wednesday. In this regard, a weather warning is in effect for 5 million people in areas of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

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