Hurricane Elsa causes widespread damage in Barbados, St. Lucia, aims at Hispaniola

[Eugene]

Source: Miami Herald

Hurricane Elsa causes widespread damage in Barbados, St. Lucia, aims at Hispaniola

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES, SYRA ORTIZ-BLANES, AND ADRIANA BRASILEIRO
JULY 02, 2021 06:08 PM, UPDATED JULY 02, 2021 09:00 PM

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.

“We have been significantly affected,” Wilfred Abrahams, Barbados’ minister of home affairs, information and public affairs, said about the passage of the 2021 Atlantic season’s first hurricane. “There is widespread damage to property. There are roofs that have come off, roofs have collapsed, houses have collapsed. There are downed power lines across Barbados, live power lines, downed trees, some roads are impassable.”

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said that based on initial assessments, around 177 roofs had been damaged and at least seven homes had collapsed in the island of 287,025.

Damages have also been reported in St. Lucia. Following the all-clear shortly before 5 p.m., the director of the National Emergency Management Organization, Dorine Gustave, said crews would be out clearing roads of fallen trees and downed power lines.

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Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article252535808.html

[Eugene]

1. 3 dead as Elsa speeds through Caribbean, aims for Cuba

Source: Associated Press

3 dead as Elsa speeds through Caribbean, aims for Cuba

By DÁNICA COTO and EVENS SANON
July 4, 2021

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Tropical Storm Elsa battered the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday, downing trees and blowing off roofs as it sped through the Caribbean, killing at least three people.

The storm was centered about 175 miles (280 kilometers) east-southeast of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and was swirling west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) as the tropical storm, which had been a Category 1 hurricane earlier on Saturday, weakened in its approach to Hispaniola and Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The storm was forecast to hit Cuba next on a path that would take it to Florida, with some models showing it would spin into the Gulf or up the Atlantic Coast. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the Florida Keys from Craig Key westward to Dry Tortugas.

Elsa prompted Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency in 15 Florida counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.

One death was reported in St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/haiti-hurricanes-hurricane-elsa-b56c497314f44452b058e61c38fe8238