SCITUATE, MASS. (WHDH) - Tropical Storm Elsa is making its way up the East Coast, bringing with it the chance for flooding, strong winds, and torrential downpours.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for parts of the Bay State, including in Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket counties.
Scattered tropical downpours begin before dawn Friday with torrential tropical downpours moving in mid-morning, according to 7NEWS Meteorologist Chris Lambert.
Rain tapers to isolated showers by the early afternoon.
A flash flood watch will go into effect late Thursday night into Friday afternoon for all of Massachusetts, excluding the Cape and the Islands, with 2 to 4 inches of rain expected. Communities across Central and Western Mass. may see higher totals.
“A lot of water in a short period of time on a saturated ground will yield to street/poor drainage areas and small stream flooding,” Lambert said.
Strong winds can also be expected across Cape Cod and the Islands, with 50 to 60 mph gusts projected. The winds could lead to scattered power outages in the area.
This tropical storm comes as residents continue cleaning up from recent summer storms, which left a tree toppled on a house in Norwell and a fallen tree crushing a car in Weymouth.
Residents along the East Coast are bracing themselves for the next big storm.
“Everybody in general should take this opportunity to check your emergency kits, preparedness kits, to make sure they have all the necessary items,” Atlantic City Fire Chief Scott Evans said.
Elsa showed no mercy when it made landfall in Florida on Tuesday with winds hitting 65 mph.
“Tropical storms, if they are slow-moving, can flood worse than some fast-moving ones,” a resident who recently moved to Florida said.
People in Florida’s North Gulf Coast experienced widespread power outages as a result of Elsa.
“We have more than 10,000 restoration personnel prepared to respond to outages as soon as it is safe to do so,” Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez said.
Strong winds caused major damage in the area of Pine Island and heavy rain led to severe flooding in Cape Coral.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry urged the public to be cautious out in the wild weather.
“We don’t want people to get overconfident, be out in their cars and potentially driving into flooding,” he said. “You can have downed power lines with wind. There’s a whole lot of possibilities that can happen in these storms.”
For the latest weather updates, visit the 7WEATHER page.
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