Tropical Storm Elsa

On July 3rd, Tropical Storm Elsa hit a major landfall by attacking Haiti and the Dominican Republic simultaneously. It killed at least 3 people across the countries and was a category 1 storm. Since the hurricane was a strangely odd occurrence for the nation of Barbados, they were underprepared for the storm and therefore took a heavy toll in expenses. Additionally, due to the lack of infrastructure in many island nations in the Caribbean, the storm was able to damage housing and other buildings. Moreover, Haiti especially has been a victim of erosion and deforestation, which allow for water to run down areas and pool up in one location causing floods to occur. Hurricane Elsa also caused landslides in areas with a lot of erosion at the surface level.

During the first two weeks of July, Tropical Storm Elsa rampaged across the southeastern coastline of the United States, as well as island nations in the Caribbean. On July 8th, the storm began to gain energy, and its winds rose to 50 miles per hour. It dropped a large amount of downpour over North Carolina and Virginia while it also continued along the east coast. Like most hurricanes, the storm began to create complications with toppled wires, electrical outages, trees obstructing roads, debris falling on residential living spaces, and several injuries to those who underwent these incidents. One interesting aspect of this storm was that it actually initiated a tornado as a byproduct of itself. The tornado was ranked as an EF-2 level threat and had flipped over multiple cars, recreational vehicles, and trailers. According to poweroutage.us, approximately 26,000 homes and businesses were unable to access a power source for the duration of Tropical Storm Elsa, all the way from Florida to Virginia.

Although the storm itself was ranked as a category 1 disaster, it was unprecedented and shocking to many meteorologists across the East Coast. The main reason was because the storm was early, quick, and devastating. Nowadays, storms have a direct relation to global warming and climate change. As the globe heats up, storms are beginning to have an unexpectedly stronger wind shear with the capacity to utilize more water. This is all due to the heat of the ocean working alongside the extreme air temperatures. On the other hand, humanity can expect to see the rate of storms drop over the years in the future. However, we will tend to have more powerful, large tropical storms in the upcoming years. This could have a dangerous effect on coastal regions and cities that have numerous residential living spaces nearby the ocean. Once the sea levels begin to rise and storms get stronger, hurricane storm surges could travel more than 25 miles inland.

Despite the fact that there will be future storms, there is something we can do to assist the situation in advance. By helping the victims of Tropical Storm Elsa and by making a step towards preventing climate change, we can cease the overall path of destruction of our environment. Here are some charities listed down below that pursue this ultimate goal.

Charities

• Red Cross

https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2021/tropical-storm-elsa-follow-flooding-safety-steps-as-storm-nears-florida.html

• The generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program (DRP) enable the American Red Cross to prepare communities, whether the disasters are big or small, respond accordingly whenever and wherever they occur, and help families during the recovery process.

• Direct Relief

https://www.directrelief.org/2021/07/as-tropical-storm-elsa-tracks-towards-florida-emergency-support-mobilized/

• Heavy rains and high winds from Tropical Storm Elsa could inundate parts of Florida and other U.S. states, including Georgia and both Carolinas, which could also experience impacts from the storm as it moves northward. Direct Relief has staged Hurricane Preparedness Packs which are filled with essential medical resources. These are often requested after disasters in advance for several communities across Florida, including with health providers in the Miami area.

Works Cited

Home, www.fema.gov/txt/library/survivingthestormhurricane.txt#:~:text=Storm surges have been known, flooding houses in its path.

PowerOutage.US, poweroutage.us/.

The New York Times. “Tropical Storm Elsa Brings Flooding Threat to New York Area.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 July 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/07/07/us/tropical-storm-elsa-florida.html.

“Tropical Storm Pounds East Coast After Killing 1 in Florida | Georgia News | US News.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-07-08/tropical-storm-kills-1-in-florida-hurts-10-at-georgia-base.