Hurricane Elsa heads toward Florida

State of Florida
State of Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Tuesday to provide updates on the state’s preparations for Tropical Storm Elsa.

Earlier today, the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning for a portion of the west coast of Florida to reflect the increased strength,” DeSantis said.

“Elsa is forecast to become a hurricane before making landfall, with landfall appearing most likely in the eastern big bend of Florida or nature coast, north of Tampa Bay tomorrow morning,” DeSantis added.  

“Hurricane warnings are in place for the following seven counties: Dixie, Levy, Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas,” DeSantis said.  

“There are tropical storm warnings in place for 28 other counties,” the governor added.

DeSantis said a tornado watch for South Florida is in place until 11 p.m. ET Tuesday night.  

“The total counties under state of emergency are now at 33,” DeSantis added.  

DeSantis said there are about 1,500 customers across the state experiencing power outages. 

“We’ve got between all the various utilities more than 7,000 restoration personnel prepared to respond to these outages,” the governor said.

DeSantis reminded residents of the importance of having weather alerts turned on.  

“We’re anticipating a landfall probably between 8 a.m. ET and 9 a.m. ET tomorrow, somewhere again on the nature coast or big bend part of Florida,” DeSantis said.  

DeSantis asked residents to heed warnings from local officials.  

“There have not been any widespread evacuation orders,” the governor said.  

DeSantis said officials don’t anticipate major changes to the track of the storm, but they’ll continue to work with the National Hurricane Center and share updates.  

 

source: cnn.com