Cuba evacuates 70,000 as Tropical Storm Elsa approaches
Source: AP
By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ
HAVANA (AP) Cuba evacuated 70,000 people along the islands southern region on Sunday amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.
The Cuban government had opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm. Most of those evacuated went to relatives homes, while about 23,000 people sheltered at government facilities. Some 400 living in mountainous areas took refuge in natural caves that had been prepared for the emergency.
The storms next target was Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.
On Sunday morning, Elsa was located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Kingston, Jamaica, and was heading west-northwest at 13 mph (20 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of about 60 mph (95 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Antony Exilien secures the roof of his house in response to Tropical Storm Elsa, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, July 3, 2021. Elsa brushed past Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday and threatened to unleash flooding and landslides before taking aim at Cuba and Florida. ( AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-cuba-tropical-storms-storms-floods-15098bff76e4d0e938339627501d0ff0