Elsa lashes East Coast with wind, heavy rain
Tropical storm expected to reach Northeast Friday
Tropical storm warnings blanket the East Coast from North Carolina to Massachusetts as Elsa charges northward. The stubborn system has maintained tropical characteristics despite more than 24 hours over land; its peak winds have even increased from 40 to 50 mph since Thursday morning.
Tropical Storm Elsa will remain intact as it sweeps up the Mid-atlantic coast Thursday night, reaching the Northeast on Friday and delivering torrential rainfall, gusty winds and pockets of shoreside flooding, as well as the risk of a few isolated tornadoes.
Flash flood watches span more than 830 miles from North Carolina to southern Maine. In the Northeast, the National Hurricane Center warns that downpours could lead to “considerable flash and urban flooding ” on Friday, including around New York City.
Since Tuesday, Elsa has swept from the Florida Keys into the Mid-atlantic. The storm made landfall in the Big Bend of Florida in Taylor County around 11 a.m. Wednesday, packing 65 mph winds and a storm surge of several feet. Along its journey, it has also unloaded more than 10 inches of rain and produced wind gusts topping 70 mph in a few locations.
Here are some of the rainfall totals:
Nearly 11 inches in Key West and Port Charlotte, Fla.
More than 8 inches near Savannah, Ga.
Around 6 inches in parts of Charleston, S.C., and Hilton Head 3 to 5 inches around Myrtle Beach, S.C.
3 to 4 inches around Raleigh, N.C.
Wind gusts reached at least 70 mph in the Florida Keys and the west coast of Florida, as well as in coastal Georgia and South Carolina.
The storm spawned a damaging tornado in Jacksonville, Fla., on Wednesday, while an EF2 twister struck Camden County, Ga., which injured 10 people at the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, according to the Associated Press. One person died in Jacksonville when strong winds toppled a tree onto a vehicle.
As of 5 p.m. Thursday, Elsa was centered 125 miles west-southwest of Norfolk, Va., barreling northeast at 21 mph.
The Delmarva Peninsula and southeast Virginia will also be areas to watch for very isolated tornado activity within the spiral rain bands sweeping into Elsa from the east Thursday night. That threat may also exist near the immediate coastline in New Jersey.
An increase in rainfall totals is possible in northern New Jersey and around the Big Apple.
Long Island and the South Coast of southern New England could see 50 mph wind gusts.
The heaviest rain will fall in Connecticut from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, and in the Boston to Providence corridor between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Slightly lesser rainfall is likely to the north and east.