Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday expanded his original state of emergency covering 15 counties to include Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam, and Union counties as Tropical Storm Elsa approaches the Florida coast.
DeSantis issued a state of emergency last week covering Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties. On Tuesday evening, he expanded it to include seven others:
According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Elsa currently has maximum sustained winds of 70 mph and is moving north at 10 mph. It is expected to strengthen to a hurricane before landfall:
“Hurricane conditions are expected tonight and early Wednesday along a portion of the west coast of Florida, where a Hurricane Warning is in effect,” according to the NHC:
“Tropical storm conditions are occurring across portions of the Florida Keys and will spread northward along the west coast of the state within the warning area through Wednesday morning,” the NHC advisory continues, noting tropical storm conditions are expected in a “portion of southeastern Georgia and are possible elsewhere along much of the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina.”