Tropical storm warning for part of the Keys. Those in boats, RVs asked to seek shelter
With the Middle to Lower Keys under a tropical storm warning Sunday, Florida Keys officials had no plans to issue mandatory evacuation orders.
But they advised people living in mobile homes, travel trailers, RVs and boats to either leave the island chain or move to safer housing by Monday morning ahead of Tropical Storm Elsa.
“No mandatory evacuation directives have been announced or are expected,” the Monroe County Emergency Management office posted Sunday on Facebook.
The warning starts at Craig Key near the Channel 5 bridge and runs through Marathon down to Key West. It also includes the Dry Tortugas.
The 11 a.m. Sunday advisory from the National Weather Service put the rest of the Keys under a tropical storm watch.
Keys leaders declared a state of local emergency on Saturday.
Elsa had maximum sustained winds at 60 mph and was moving west-northwest at 13 mph.
It is most likely to reach the Keys between 3 and 5 p.m. Monday, said meteorologist Jon Rizzo of the National Weather Service in Key West at the 9:30 a.m. conference call Sunday with county and municipal leaders.
“It still looks like it may pass very near or west of Key West at this time,” Rizzo said. “A lot of the heavy weather is going to be out for at least 100 miles to the east and that’s going to be in the form of squalls with some damaging winds gusts and again the slightest threat of perhaps a tornado in there.”
Rizzo said, “Think of it more like severe thunderstorms with damaging winds.”
People can expect utility and communications outages from the winds during the storm, he said.
From Monday through Tuesday, the forecast calls for tropical storm force winds with damaging sustained winds of up to 50 mph with possible gusts of 60 to 70 mph, particularly in the Lower Keys, Rizzo said.
Rainfall could be 2 to 4 inches and up to 6 inches in some places. The potential for limited coastal flooding could be 1 to 2 feet above sea level.
Some big decisions hadn’t been made yet in the Keys as of Sunday morning.
Officials at Monroe County Schools, which are already closed Monday for the Fourth of July holiday, haven’t made any decisions about closing Tuesday due to the storm, said Superintendent Theresa Axford.
“We’re thinking about making the call tomorrow,” Axford said Sunday, noting that about 750 students are in summer school.
The Key West International Airport also remains open.
“Today there are no flight cancellations at all,” said Richard Strickland, Monroe County’s director of airports. “I’d expect tomorrow morning to be the same.”
Strickland advised anyone flying to check with their airlines for more information on specific flights.
“Hang in there,” County Administrator Roman Gastesi told the group. “We’re almost done with this thing.”
