Hurricane Elsa, which made landfall on July 7, 2021, with winds of 86 mph, caused about $1 billion in damage to the southern United States and multiple Caribbean countries, the National Hurricane Center reported.
New data compiled by the center shows that the storm was notable to meteorologists in a number of ways, including its longevity. Elsa lasted eight days as a named storm, which was the most named storm days for an Atlantic storm forming in July since 2008’s Bertha, according to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
Elsa also was the earliest fifth named storm in the history of the Atlantic hurricane season. Along its path, Elsa spawned 17 tornadoes between Florida and New Jersey, with two in Florida, two in Georgia, five in South Carolina, three in North Carolina, three in Virginia, and two in New Jersey.
Thirteen people were killed by Elsa, including a man who died when winds knocked down a tree that crushed him. Another nine were killed offshore in the Florida Straits, the NHC reported.
Two days before it made landfall, Elsa was only a tropical storm as it approached Florida. Just before it hit land, the storm swamped a boat with 22 people who had left from Cuba, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The passengers had to endure the storm without help for about 20 hours.
Elsa moved directly over Cuba, which lost power. Elsa then caused flooded streets, downed trees and powerlines in Florida. It briefly became a hurricane, riding parallel to Florida’s west coast before making landfall in a remote location in Taylor County, where it caused numerous reports of tree damage, the NHC reported.
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