Tropical Storm Elsa has battered Jamaica and Cuba with winds and rain as it claimed at least three lives while cutting a path of destruction through the Caribbean.
Flooding, mudslides and damaging gusts were expected on Monday as the storm, downgraded from hurricane status but still powerful, crept north toward the United States.
As of 0000 GMT Monday, Elsa was packing maximum sustained winds of 95km/h, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
By Sunday evening, the NHC had reported that tropical storm warnings had been cancelled in Jamaica and in parts of Cuba.
But a warning remained in effect for other areas in Cuba and the Florida Keys, with Elsa forecast to hit the western part of the state as early as Tuesday.
Here are the 11PM EDT July 4 Tropical Storm #Elsa Key Messages. Tropical Storm Warning in effect for portions of the #Florida Keys. Tropical Storm Watch and Storm Surge Watch in effect for portions of the west coast of the Florida peninsula. https://t.co/905zOAYiId pic.twitter.com/PFvMMRSNTs
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 5, 2021
In Surfside, Florida, where a high-rise condo building collapsed on June 24, authorities demolished the remaining part of the building in a controlled explosion late Sunday, avoiding the risk that Elsa might bring it down more destructively.
READ MORE: Collapsed Florida apartment block completely demolished ahead of storm
Miami condo planned demolition. Moments ago @USATODAY pic.twitter.com/RqHGNAgIdC
— Harrison (@HarrisonHill) July 5, 2021
Tropical storm conditions were moving toward central Cuba, with forecasters predicting a storm surge of 1.5 metres along the country's southern coast, plus rainfall of up to 38.1cm in isolated areas, that could lead to flash flooding and mudslides.
Civil Defence authorities began to evacuate some coastal communities ahead of the storm surge.
READ MORE: Hurricane Elsa falls back to tropical storm as it batters Haiti
Huge waves crashing in the Dominican Republic as Tropical Storm Elsa passes just to the south.
— Scott Duncan (@ScottDuncanWX) July 3, 2021
🎥 Via @JeanSurielpic.twitter.com/PR6eIpmkob
At least three dead
On the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, a 15-year-old boy was killed Saturday near Bahoruco when a wall collapsed; and a 75-year-old woman in Bani met a similar fate, according to the country's Emergency Operations Center.
Around 50 homes there were facing damage Sunday.
"I can't get into my house because of the water," 50-year-old Mayra Tejeda, who lives in the Moscu neighbourhood some 15 miles from the capital Santo Domingo with a child with special needs.
"It's all covered in water," she said.
A third person died in Soufriere on the island state of Santa Lucia, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) said, without offering details.
Heavy winds led to widespread electricity and water outages, the CDEMA added.
It also said hundreds of homes in Barbados were damaged.
Tropical Storm Elsa was near eastern Cuba, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to the island nation, while two people were killed in the Dominican Republic after a wall collapsed due to strong winds brought on by the storm https://t.co/kjaLoCc8T2 pic.twitter.com/kzcAF9qufj
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 5, 2021
Haiti, which shares the island of Hispanio la with the Dominican Republic, reported no deaths or "serious damage" though some crops were battered, according to Jerry Chandler, who heads the country's civil protection agency.
On Friday, Elsa, then packing winds of 121km/h, became the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before weakening to tropical storm status on Saturday.
According to the NHC, the storm could continue to weaken a bit as it moves over land in Cuba and then strengthen again over the Gulf of Mexico as it moves toward Florida.