Elsa strengthens to hurricane, heads to Florida’s Gulf Coast
Al JazeeraTropical Storm Elsa strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on Tuesday, hours before an expected landfall on Florida’s northern Gulf Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center in the United States. The centre of Elsa was about 100 miles south-southwest of Tampa, Florida, and was moving north at approximately nine miles per hour, with maximum sustained winds of 75mph, the NHC said in an 8pm advisory. A hurricane warning has been issued for a long stretch of coastline, from Egmont Key, in the Tampa Bay region, to the Steinhatchee River some 180 miles north along the Gulf Coast, with Elsa due to make landfall on Wednesday morning. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the storm was expected to come ashore between 8am and 9am around the Tampa Bay region.