After battering Jamaica and Cuba with winds and rain on Sunday, Tropical storm Elsa, which has at least claimed three lives, is now expected to move across central and western Cuba later on Monday and pass near the Florida Keys, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. 

The NHC said that Elsa was packing maximum sustained winds of 65 miles (100 kilometers) per hour and added that the warnings to the tropical storm have been extended along the west coast of Florida. 

The Miami-based weather forecaster by Sunday had cancelled warnings for Elsa in Jamaica and in parts of Cuba.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County. 

In Florida’s Surfside, authorities on Sunday demolished the remaining parts of a collapsed building in which at least 27 have been killed, to avoid the risk of Elsa that might bring it down more destructively.

Tropical storm conditions were moving toward central Cuba, with forecasters predicting a storm surge of three to five feet along the country’s southern coast, plus rainfall of up to 15 inches in isolated areas, that could lead to flash flooding and mudslides, AFP reported on Sunday.

In the Dominican Republic, Tropical storm Elsa killed a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman, the nation’s Emergency Operations Center.

In the Caribbean, a person died in Soufriere on the island state of Santa Lucia, taking the death toll from Elsa to three. 

According to the NHC, the storm could continue to weaken a bit as it moves over land in Cuba and then strengthen again over the Gulf of Mexico as it moves toward Florida.