News Americas, Miami, FL, Fri. July 2, 2021: The first hurricane of the 2021 season, Hurricane Elsa, was this morning already impacting Barbados with strong winds and heavy showers.
Early reports of roofs being blown, galvanized fences blown away, and trees falling mostly in the southern part of the country are already emerging as Barbados recently reported sustained winds of 74 mph and a wind gust of 86 mph.
The roof of a housing unit in Gall Hill, Christ Church was blown off, the Barbados Nation reported. Reports also indicated that roofs were blown away from two houses in Inch Marlow, Christ Church, leaving homeowners open to the elements.
Heavy rain is also pounding the northern part of the island, based on radio call-in information.
In the central part of the island, residents of St George were dealing with power and water outages as part of the Barbados Water Authority’s planned shutdowns. Areas also affected since the storm reached landfall just after 7 a.m. are Rose Hill, St Peter, Bath Land, St John, and Oistins, Christ Church, where mostly powerful winds are doing damage.
The Meteorological Service of Barbados has issued a Hurricane Warning for Barbados, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines while the Meteorological Service of St. Lucia has issued a Hurricane Warning for St. Lucia.
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Martinique, the southern coast of Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to the border with Haiti and the entire coast of Haiti while a Hurricane Watch is in effect for the southern portion of Haiti from Port Au Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic while a Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Grenada and its dependencies, Saba and Sint Eustatius, Jamaica and Dominica.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Elsa is expected to produce rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches, with maximum amounts of 10 inches today, across Barbados and the Windward and southern Leeward Islands, including St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This rain may lead to isolated flash flooding and mudslides.
Over Puerto Rico, rainfall of 1 to 3 inches with localized amounts of 5 inches is expected late today into Saturday and the rain may lead to isolated flash flooding and minor river flooding, along with the potential for mudslides.
Across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica, rainfall of 4 to
8 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches is possible
Saturday into Sunday and the rain may also lead to scattered flash
flooding and mudslides.
Tropical storm conditions are expected in portions of the Windward and southern Leeward Islands within the tropical storm warning areas and are possible in the tropical storm watch areas later today. Tropical storm conditions are expected in the warning areas in the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Saturday, with hurricane conditions possible in southern Haiti. Tropical storm conditions are possible in Jamaica Saturday night or early Sunday.
Elsa is moving toward the west-northwest near 28 mph (44 km/h), and this motion is expected to continue during the next couple of days. On the forecast track, Elsa will pass near or over portions of the Windward Islands or the southern Leeward Islands this morning, move across the eastern Caribbean Sea late today and tonight, and move near the southern coast of Hispaniola on Saturday. By Sunday, Elsa is forecast to move near Jamaica and portions of eastern Cuba.
