180,000 people evacuated, Cuba copes with tropical storm Elsa

A house collapsed after Hurricane Elsa passed through an area on Cuba's northern coast. Source: Reuters

After causing severe damage in many countries in the Caribbean region, Tropical Storm Elsa on July 4 brought heavy rain and strong winds to Cuba as it prepared to make landfall in the eastern region of the country.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it recorded Hurricane Elsa's maximum sustained winds at 95km/h, causing heavy rain and gusts in Jamaica as well as many parts of the southern coastal area of ​​Cuba.

Rainfall measured in Jamaica and southern Haiti was 100-200nm and expected to reach nearly 400mm.

As of 4:00 a.m. on July 5, Vietnam time, the center of Hurricane Elsa was very close to Cuba, about 15 miles from the Cabo Cruz area and moving northwest.

The storm is expected to pass through central Cuba late on July 4 and early on July 5 local time.

The NHC has issued hurricane warnings for Cuba, Jamaica and southern Florida and forecasts that Hurricane Elsa will weaken before making landfall in western Florida on July 5 or 6 local time.

Cuban authorities have decided to evacuate about 180,000 people living along the storm's expected path, warning of heavy rain for many days in the central region and possibly in the west.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Florida has declared a state of emergency in 15 counties. Notably, Florida authorities have also begun to dig up the remains of a Florida apartment building that collapsed 11 days earlier, killing at least 24 people and leaving more than 120 missing.

Previously, on its way, super storm Elsa had severely devastated a series of countries in the Caribbean region, killing at least 3 people and causing power and water outages in many places, seriously affecting the agricultural sector.

Elsa is the first super storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and weakened into a tropical storm on July 3./.