![]() ![]() Tampa International Airport shut down at 5 p.m.ĭuke Energy, the main electric utility in the Tampa Bay area, said in a statement it has about 3,000 employees, contractors, tree specialists and support personnel ready to respond to power outages in the storm’s aftermath. ![]() ”“I’ve seen this happen over the years and I decided to load up,” Jones said.Īcross the Tampa Bay region that’s home to about 3.5 million people, events, government offices and schools were closing down early Tuesday in advance of the storm. She was buying ice and food at a local grocery store in advance of the storm. Annie Jones, 51, has lived along the Gulf Coast her entire life. “Before we left, we knew it was coming,” Wirtz said. Both are from Tampa, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) across the bay and have been through storms many times. “The main concern here is, if it doesn’t speed up and decides to stall, there will be enormous erosion,” she said.įriends Chris Wirtz, 47, and Brendan Peregrine, 44, were staying put at a beachfront inn with their families. Her main concern is what will happen to sand on the adjacent beach and the dunes that protect her house and others. Nancy Brindley, 85, who lives in a seaside house built in 1923, said she has experienced 34 previous tropical cyclones and is not having shutters put on her windows. ![]() Free sandbags were being handed out at several locations, and a limited number of storm shelters opened Tuesday morning in at least four counties around the Tampa Bay area, although no evacuations have been ordered. Still, on the barrier island beach towns along the Gulf Coast, it was largely business as usual with few shutters or plywood boards going up early Tuesday. The storm is expected to make landfall between 8 a.m. Now is “not a time to joyride” because “we do have hazardous conditions out there,” DeSantis said at a news conference Tuesday. Ron DeSantis said the area would take a hard hit from the storm overnight. The Tampa area is highly vulnerable to storm surge because the offshore waters and Tampa Bay are quite shallow, experts say. Landfall was expected somewhere in between. A hurricane warning has been issued for a long stretch of coastline, from Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay to the Steinhatchee River in Florida's Big Bend area. National Hurricane Center warned of life-threatening storm surges, flooding and isolated tornadoes. In addition to damaging winds and heavy rains, the Miami-based U.S. The storm’s rains lashed the Caribbean and the Florida Keys and complicated the search for survivors in the deadly collapse of a Miami-area condominium 12 days ago. Tropical Storm Elsa gathered strength and was likely to become a hurricane before coming ashore in Florida, weather forecasters said Tuesday. The search effort faced new threats from severe weather with Tropical Storm Elsa. A red flag hangs from a lifeguard station just south of the collapsed Champlain Towers South condominium building where rescue crews continue to work, Tuesday, July 6, 2021, in Miami Beach, Fla. ![]()
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