“Elsa” had previously raged in the Caribbean, killing at least three people. On Wednesday he is due to hit the west coast of Florida.
The tropical storm “Elsa”, which is currently approaching the US state of Florida, has again been upgraded to a hurricane. The US hurricane center NHC in Miami assumed wind speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour on Tuesday (local time). Accordingly, the storm should reach the west coast of Florida on Wednesday night or in the early morning hours.
“Elsa” had previously raged in the Caribbean, killing at least three people. In Florida, however, the US authorities initially assumed the situation would go smoothly. One of the main concerns was the collapse of a high-rise building in Surfside near Miami, where rescue workers continued to search for victims in the rubble.
“Wind hinders the big cranes”
For fear of “Elsa”, the demolition work on the collapsed skyscraper in Surfside had continued all night. Among other things, experts use explosives. A week and a half after the building collapsed in the town of Surfside near Miami Beach, there was little hope of finding survivors in the rubble.
The number of deaths rose to 36, and another 109 people were still missing. The authorities were certain that 70 of the missing persons were in the skyscraper at the time of the accident.
According to Surfside’s Mayor Charles Burkett, the weather was already hampering the search in the rubble. “The wind is hindering the big cranes that move very heavy debris,” he said. “That is a challenge that you are trying to avoid right now.”
Not in the eye of the storm
“Elsa” was recorded on Friday as the first Atlantic hurricane of this year’s season. On Saturday, the experts downgraded him to a tropical storm.
Now again with the status of a hurricane, “Elsa” turned towards the west, according to the NHC, so Florida would avoid the eye of the storm. Originally it was feared that the storm would hit the southwest coast of the US state head-on.
(WHAT/AFP)