Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in several counties Saturday morning ahead of Tropical Storm Elsa.
The order applies to the following counties: Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota.
The system, which was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Saturday morning, is expected to bring rain and wind to Florida as early as Sunday. The National Hurricane Center says the eye of the storm will reach Florida by Monday or Tuesday.
Elsa is currently racing toward Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where it threatens to unleash flooding and landslides before taking aim at Cuba and Florida.
The storm was located about 110 miles (175 kilometers) southeast of Santo Domingo early Saturday and was moving west-northwest at 31 mph with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.
