Hurricane Elsa

International Operations – Elsa impacted the Caribbean throughout the weekend, with high winds and rains causing flooding and structural damage in Barbados, St Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines, the southern coasts of Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, and making landfall in Cuba on July 6.  All surrounding islands faced severe weather from the storm.  At this time as Elsa progresses up the coast of the United States, there is no plan to deploy an International Response team to any of these locations.

U.S. Operations – Elsa made landfall on July 7th in Taylor County, FL as a strong Tropical Storm. Elsa. continues to make its way across the East Coast until the end of this week. Both Florida and Georgia Emergency Management Agencies have reported that impacts are within the response capabilities of the states and local communities. We continue to monitor Elsa for further impacts on the East Coast but we don’t anticipate deploying.

International Operations – We are currently monitoring the path and strength of the storm as it approaches the Lesser Antilles.  Storm warnings are in effect as heavy rain and wind is expected in much of the Caribbean.   As the impact remains unpredictable, any ability to act still remains unclear and would largely depend on where the storm lands and accessibility of those locations, among other factors.  Teams in current areas of potential impact are preparing for severe weather over the weekend.  We will provide updates as the situation develops further

U.S. Operations – We’re keeping a close watch on where and what strength Elsa is forecast to make landfall. As the situation becomes clearer over the weekend, we’ll update everyone on what actions we’ll take. Even though the majority of tracking models show Elsa headed towards Florida; A couple suggest it may track towards Louisiana. We’ve given our team there a heads up out of an abundance of caution.

Disaster Profile and Potential Impacts – The first Atlantic Hurricane of the season, Elsa, is expected to track near or over Barbados, The Dominican Republic, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and other parts of the Caribbean over the next few days before making another landfall on the mainland U.S., most likely in the Florida region. Current forecasts show unpredictability on where it will make its final landfall and at what strength. We will keep everyone updated on impacts as Elsa makes its way towards Florida this weekend.