Jamaicans warned to brace for coming storm

JAMAICANS HAVE been warned to brace for wet weather this weekend as Tropical Storm Elsa is forecast to move across the Caribbean, threatening to produce up to six inches of rainfall, flash flooding, and mudslides.

The National Hurricane Center advises residents of Caribbean countries, including Jamaica and Florida, to closely track the progress of Tropical Storm Elsa, which formed early Thursday.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Barbados, Martinique, St Lucia, St Vincent, and the Grenadines, and a watch covers Grenada and Guadeloupe.

Jamaica, according to the Meterological Service, is forecast to receive increased rainfall on the weekend because of a tropical wave, which is moving across the Eastern Caribbean.

Javed Hudson, duty forecaster at the Meteorological Service, said there should be an appreciable level of concern among Jamaicans.

“It’s looking more and more likely that we should feel at the very least some rainfall impact from this system come late Saturday into Sunday, and depending on how close it passes the island, we could feel some storm force winds as well,” Hudson told The Gleaner.

The duty forecaster said that Elsa was the earliest occurrence of a fifth named storm for the Atlantic Basin on record.

“But as of right now, it is starting to look more and more likely that this system could pass close enough to the island to at least give us a decent amount of rain,” said Hudson.