San Juan: Elsa strengthened to the first storm of the Atlantic season on Friday for baking East Caribbean, where officials closed schools, businesses and airports, and seemed to be towards Florida or Gulf Coast.
Heavy rain and wind put Barbados as a Category 1 Storm to the Islands including St.
Vincent and Grenadines, who are struggling to recover from a large-scale volcano eruption recently.
Elsa is located around 75 miles (120 kilometers) East St.
Vincent and are moving west-northwest at 28 mph (44 kph).
It has a maximum sustained wind of 75 mph (120 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
“Sustainable wind levels can reduce many buildings and cause a lot of damage,” said St.
Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.
“I begged you.
Don’t let this storm lightly.
It’s not the time to play stupid.” The storm warning applies to Barbados, St.
Lucia and St.
Vincent and Grenadines.
Long-term songs showed a storm rolling towards the Dominican Republic and Haiti as a storm before weakening back to the strength of tropical storms and potentially towards Florida on early Tuesday.
Authorities open dozens of refuge on St.
Vincent and urge people to evacuate if they live near a valley, given the threat of flash floods, landslides, and lava, especially in the northern part of the island.
“Don’t wait until it’s too late to go to the shelter,” said Gonsalves.
He said 94 open shelter places, smaller amounts from previous years because around 2,000 people remained at other shelters after a large volcano eruption that began in early April.
Tropical storm warnings apply to Martinique, the southern coast of the Dominican Republic of Cabo Ageno to the border with Haiti and the entire Beach of Haiti.
A tropical storm watch applies to Grenada, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Dominica and Jamaica, while the storm watch applies to the South Haiti region of the capital, Port-au-Prince, to the southern border with the Dominican Republic.
Elsa was the earliest fifth storm recorded, beating Eduardo last year formed on July 6, according to Colorado State University Hurricane Researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Elsa is expected to pass near the South Coast of Hispaniola, which was distributed by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, on Saturday.
The storm was then expected to move near Jamaica and the portion of Cuba Timur on Sunday.
The storm is estimated to carry 3 to 6 inches (7 to 15 centimeters) of rain with a total maximum of 10 inches (25 centimeters) on Friday throughout the moderate and southern LeeWard Islands, including Barbados.
Rain can release floods and a flash laden isolated.