Elsa was no fairytale.
The storm system that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a hurricane or a tropical storm finally made landfall on Wednesday morning, crashing into Taylor County, Florida around 11 a.m. EDT. It was officially a tropical storm as it moved onshore.
Like its cinematic counterpart, the storm’s plot featured multiple climactic moments of action-packed strengthening but, ultimately, ended in many areas along Florida’s Gulf Coast being largely spared from destruction. But not all spots of the state were spared from tragedy.
Elsa turned deadly on Wednesday evening, claiming one life after strong wind gusts sent a tree toppling onto a pair of cars in Jacksonville. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph were reported by the National Weather Service in the city around the time of the tragedy, which occurred amid heavy rains.
“Now is a time to remember … that weather is unpredictable,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said during a news conference Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. “This is really early in the (hurricane) season. We’re just outside of the July 4th holiday, we’ve had our first storm and, unfortunately, we’ve had a fatality.”
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