The tropical storm “Elsa”, which is currently approaching the US state of Florida, has again been upgraded to a hurricane. The US hurricane center NHC in Miami assumed wind speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour on Tuesday (local time). Accordingly, the storm is likely to reach the west coast of Florida on Wednesday night or early morning.
«Elsa» had previously raged in the Caribbean, killing at least three people. In Florida, however, the US authorities initially assumed the situation would go smoothly. The main cause of concern was the collapse of a high-rise building in Surfside near Miami, where rescue workers continued to search for victims in the rubble.
Still salvage work in Miami
For fear of “Elsa”, the demolition work on the collapsed skyscraper in Surfside had continued all night. Among other things, experts use explosives. A week and a half after the building collapsed in the town of Surfside near Miami Beach, there was little hope of finding survivors in the rubble.
The number of deaths rose to 36, and another 109 people were still missing. The authorities were certain that 70 of the missing persons were in the skyscraper at the time of the accident.
“The wind hinders the big cranes”
According to Surfside’s Mayor Charles Burkett, the weather was already hampering the search in the rubble. “The wind hinders the big cranes that move very heavy debris,” he said. “That is a challenge that they are trying to avoid at the moment.”
“Elsa” was recorded on Friday as the first Atlantic hurricane of this year’s season. On Saturday, the experts downgraded him to a tropical storm.
Now again with the status of a hurricane, according to NHC information, «Elsa» turned more towards the west, which would avoid Florida the eye of the storm. Originally it was feared that the storm would hit the southwest coast of the US state head-on. (AFP)