HURRICANE ELSA

Storm formation during the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season will be higher than previously predicted, according to an update by NOAA scientists.

Following the wind, rain and widespread damage reports across Northeast Florida due to Hurricane Elsa, utility crews were hard at work restoring power to thousands of homes.

Hurricane Elsa weakened into a tropical storm overnight and is forecast to make landfall in Florida Wednesday.

The search for victims of the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condominium reached its 14th day on Wednesday, with the death toll at three dozen, more than 100 people still unaccounted for and authorities sounding more and more grim. Crews on Tuesday dug through pulverized concrete where the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside once stood, filling buckets that were passed down a line to be emptied and then returned. The up-close look at the search, compliments of video released by the Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Department, came as eight more deaths were announced — the most for a single day since the search began.

The portion of the Georgia coast south of Brunswick is under a tropical storm warning, with forecasters expecting Hurricane Elsa to bring tropical storm conditions with sustained winds of 40 mph to 50 mph in parts of southeast Georgia.

Elsa regained hurricane strength roughly 100 miles from the west coast of Florida, where it is projected to make landfall Wednesday morning.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center has warned of life-threatening storm surges, flooding and isolated tornadoes.

Tropical storm-force winds could reach NC coast, according to hurricane center forecasters.

The storm is expected to move near Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday and near Jamaica and eastern Cuba on Sunday, according to forecasters.

As Hurricane Elsa continued to move through the Caribbean Sea Saturday toward the island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic and Haiti share, both nations issued red alerts, warning residents to anticipate massive amounts of rains and winds.

Hurricane Elsa raced toward Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday, where it threatened to unleash flooding and landslides before taking aim at Cuba and Florida. The Category 1 storm was located about 395 miles (635 kilometers) east-southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic and was moving west-northwest at 29 mph (46 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), with the hurricane expected to become a tropical storm after hitting Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

It could affect Surfside, where the deadly condo collapsed.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Hurricane Elsa, which had strengthened Friday afternoon as it continued speeding through the Caribbean, saw its forecast track shift slightly westward in the 5 p.m. EDT advisory, placing most of coastal South Florida — including Surfside, where rescue efforts after the condo collapse are ongoing — outside the National Hurricane Center’s projected potential path. ...

Hurricane Elsa battered the islands of St. Lucia and Barbados on Friday, tearing off rooftops, downing trees and power lines and blocking roads as it moved across the eastern Caribbean with 75 mph winds and heavy rain.

Crews in Clay County were out cleaning storm drains Friday, as part of an effort to prepare for rainfall that the area might experience from Hurricane Elsa.

With Hurricane Elsa churning through the Caribbean on an apparent collision course with Florida early next week, the city of Jacksonville isn’t taking any chances.

Follow live as Elsa marks the first hurricane of the Atlantic season

Hurricane Elsa is expected to hit Florida early next week. Officials have begun preparations for potential impact, as teams work at the site looking for the 128 people who remain unaccounted for.

Authorities managing the search under the rubble of the partially collapsed building in Surfside are worried that Hurricane Elsa could bring down the portion of Champlain Towers South Condo that remains standing.

Elsa is the farthest east a hurricane has formed this early in the year in the tropical Atlantic since 1933, says hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

The Coast Guard plans to patrol the water and says waves and currents may be rougher due to Tropical Storm Elsa.

Hurricane Elsa raced toward Haiti and the Dominican Republic early Saturday where it threatened to unleash flooding and landslides before taking aim at Cuba and Florida.

Elsa has strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and it's blowing off roofs, snapping trees and destroying crops in the eastern Caribbean, where officials closed schools, businesses and airports under the threat of flash flooding and landslides.