“All things considered, where we looked at 72 hours ago, I think the impacts have been less than what we thought would be reasonable, so we're fortunate.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tropical Storm Elsa, which made landfall along Florida’s northern Gulf Coast on Wednesday morning.
Tropical Storm Elsa update
Published on
jul 7, 2021
hurricanes
- On Tuesday, Elsa was scheduled to strike Florida as a Category 1 Hurricane, but its maximum winds weakened to 65 mph before making landfall in lightly populated Taylor County on Wednesday morning.
- While not a hurricane, Gov. DeSantis warned that residents in its path are still at risk for extreme rain and wind conditions, which could lead to dangers, such as storm surge, power outages, flooding, fallen debris, downed trees, and power lines. Many counties remain under a State of Emergency.
- FYI: The National Hurricane Center defines a tropical cyclone as "a rotating, organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has a closed low-level circulation."
- Tropical cyclones with winds 74 mph or higher are "hurricanes."
- Tropical cyclones with winds between 39 to 73 mph are "tropical storms."
- This is a developing story. Tropical storm conditions are projected to reach Georgia (which has declared a state of emergency) and the Carolinas by late Wednesday / early Thursday before striking states along the Atlantic Coast over the next few days. As of late Wednesday afternoon, there are already 25,000 homes and businesses in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina without power.
