• Hurricane conditions and storm surges are expected within the Hurricane Warning areas in Haiti and the Dominican Republic beginning Saturday 3 July 2021 and in Jamaica and portions of eastern Cuba beginning Sunday 4 July 2021.

• Damages have been reported in Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and Grenada. IFRC is monitoring the situation in coordination with National Societies (NS) and awaiting for more detailed information from damage assessments to evaluate the response.

• IFRC has raised the institutional alert to level 2 to support the NS and start the readiness actions for the response.

• Regional and Subregional warehouses have been activated in the Panama Logistic Humanitarian Hub and Dominican Republic humanitarian corridor. Additional items are prepositioned in Barbados and St. Vincent.

CONTEXT

The situation

At 8:30 AM AST (1230 UTC) 2 July 2021, the center of Hurricane Elsa was located near latitude 13.1 North, longitude 60.1 West (near Barbados). Elsa is moving toward the west-northwest near 28 mph (44 km/h), and this motion is expected to continue during the next couple of days. On the forecast track, Elsa will pass near or over portions of the Windward Islands or the southern Leeward Islands this morning, move across the eastern Caribbean Sea late today and tonight and move near the south coast of Hispaniola on Saturday. By Sunday, Elsa is forecast to move near Jamaica and portions of eastern Cuba. Reports from Barbados indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 75 mph (120 km/h) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next 48 hours.

Elsa was racing west northwestward at 28 mph on 2 July, Friday morning, about 20 miles west-southwest of Barbados and had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. The system is expected to continue a general west-northwest path over the Caribbean and is likely to remain a hurricane while approaching Hispaniola and Jamaica this weekend. According to NOAA, a hurricane warning is in effect for Barbados, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and St. Lucia. A sustained wind of 74 mph and a gust up to 86 mph have already been reported on Barbados. A hurricane watch is in effect for southern Haiti from Port Au Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic.