Hurricane warning for Jamaica, as Elsa strengthens

This as Hurricane Elsa continues its slow strengthening while approaching the central Caribbean. It means that dangerous effects of a hurricane are expected to affect the island in 36 hours or less, said the country’s meteorological office.

Jamaica was initially placed on a tropical storm watch  but its status has since been upgraded to a hurricane warning as Elsa got stronger during the course of Friday morning, moving from 40 mph winds to 75 mph to become the first hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic season.

A HURRICANE WARNING is now in effect for Jamaica as Hurricane Elsa continues its slow strengthening while approaching the central Caribbean. This means that dangerous effects of a hurricane are expected to affect Jamaica in 36 hours or less. pic.twitter.com/w9mT2WpMhB

— MetServiceJA (@MetserviceJA) July 2, 2021

By late this afternoon, the Category 1 storm was east-southeast of the Dominican Republic, packing sustained winds of 85mph and moving west-northwest at 30 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported.

Weather forecasters say they expect Elsa to lose some of its power as it moves over the islands of Hispaniola, Jamaica and Cuba before strengthening again en route to the Florida Cays.

“On its forecast track, the centre of Hurricane Elsa will continue to move over the eastern Caribbean today and through the central Caribbean, south of Hispaniola, on Saturday before just passing east and north of Jamaica on Sunday morning. Heavy showers and thunderstorms  along with winds reaching tropical storm force could begin to impact eastern sections of Jamaica as early as Saturday night, “ said the Met Office in its latest bulletin issued 5:00 pm today.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) said it has activated all units across the parishes in anticipation of the impacts from Elsa. 

Local Government and Community Development Minister Desmond McKenzie said a number of emergency telephone lines have been activated to assist persons in urgent need.

Both the National Water Commission (NWC) and light and power company the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) have also issued advisory, urging customers to activate contingency plans as disruption in their service is a possibility.