Elsa gained strength Tuesday, intensifying back to a hurricane. Now it’s starting to pound Florida’s west coast with landfall expected in the morning. A hurricane warning is in effect for the Tampa Bay area. The Tampa airport suspended operations at 5 pm Tuesday afternoon. There are also warnings that the Sunshine Skyway bridge, a major outlet into the area may have to close.

Much of South Florida felt some impacts from the storm in the form of rain on Monday and Tuesday, but Florida’s west coast is expected to take a harder hit. Accuweather writes:

Final preparations were being rushed to completion across Florida and the Southeast Tuesday as Hurricane Elsa closed in on the Sunshine State, unleashing torrential rain and strong winds across the Florida Keys. After weakening to a tropical storm near Cuba, the system restrengthened into a Category 1 hurricane as it approached Florida on Tuesday evening around 8 p.m. EDT with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.

Elsa is projected to make landfall north of Tampa early Wednesday, and it has been rated a 1 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes, due to the system’s expected rainfall, storm surge flooding and the potential for damaging winds.

Elsa is expected to weaken before heading up to Georgia late tomorrow and move through parts of the Southeast as a tropical depression.

While the storm was expected to pound Cuba, luckily the island didn’t end up getting hit hard. NPR writes:

Cuban officials evacuated 180,000 people against the possibility of heavy flooding from a storm that already battered several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people. But Elsa spent Sunday and much of Monday sweeping parallel to Cuba’s southern coast, sparing most of the island from significant effects.

It made landfall in Cuba near Cienega de Zapata, a natural park with few inhabitants, and crossed the island just east of Havana. Tuesday’s rainfall across parts of Cuba was expected to reach 10 inches (25 centimeters) with isolated maximums of 15 inches (38 centimeters), resulting in significant flash flooding and mudslides. But there were no early reports of serious damage on the island.

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