Nearly two days after making landfall in Florida, Tropical Storm Elsa has traveled hundreds of miles inland and is still bringing dangerous winds and heavy rainfall as it travels up the East Coast.
As of 5 a.m. ET on Friday, Elsa was located on the New Jersey coast, packing maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. The Associated Press reports that the storm is prompting tornado watches throughout the region.
Elsa has already made a major impact in the U.S.'s most populous region. On Thursday, heavy rains from Elsa's outer bands prompted urban flooding in New York City, shutting down major highways.
Videos posted to Twitter showed cars and people wading through flooded streets that were overwhelmed with water.
The guy wading through impressed me but not as much as the people braving the subway. pic.twitter.com/kHl3TGUczV
— Elizabeth Holloway (@RegStrategist) July 8, 2021
The National Hurricane Center Forecasts that Elsa will continue to hug North America's East coast throughout the weekend, passing through New England and Canada before eventually moving out to the Northern Atlantic Ocean by Saturday afternoon.
Elsa has already been blamed for one death in the U.S. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that the storm caused a "freak accident" when a tree fell on a moving car Wednesday in Jacksonville, Florida.
The storm also injured 10 people in Georgia Wednesday when a tornado spawned by the system damaged an RV park on a Navy base in southern Georgia.
Also, on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports that a family was rescued after their boat drifted off the beach in South Carolina.
Earlier this week, Elsa caused the deaths of three people in the Caribbean. One person was killed in St. Lucia, and two others were killed in separate events in the Dominican Republic.