Hurricane Elsa is expected to make landfall on July 7th somewhere north of Hernando County. The wind from this storm was expected to cause extensive damage as trees uproot due to the soil already being saturated by the rain. The last two months have been very wet and trees have been toppling without strong winds.
“Today is our game day,” Acting Emergency Director Erin Thomas said as she opened her update on Tropical Storm Elsa and the county’s emergency response.
Coastal residents should be particularly mindful of Elsa, which is expected to cause a 3-5 foot storm surge. According to Thomas, a 3 foot storm surge will cover Pine Island Drive. Hernando county will begin to experience tropical storm force winds around 39 MPH beginning mid-evening and overnight. The storm is expected to be over our area for 9-12 hours.
November 11, 2020
Jim Saunders, NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
TALLAHASSEE --- Pointing to the “erratic nature” of the storm as it threatened a large part of Florida’s west coast, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday expanded a state of emergency and asked President Donald Trump for a federal emergency declaration as Tropical Storm Eta prepared to make landfall Thursday.
CURRENT SITUATION
Then National Hurricane Center has issued a Tropical Storm Watch for coastal Hernando County. A Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 48 hours.
CURRENT SITUATION
The center of Eta is located about 210 miles southwest of Fort Myers, moving southwest at 14 mph. Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph. The center of Eta will continue moving away from the southwest Florida coast through the afternoon/evening hours. Eta is no longer forecast to become a Category 1 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico but remain a tropical storm.
On Friday afternoon, Aug. 21, 2020, Hernando County Commissioners and county staff members held a special meeting to discuss the storms that are moving into the Gulf of Mexico: Tropical Storm Laura and Tropical Storm Marco.
