Elsa strengthens into season’s 1st hurricane in Caribbean

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Elsa has strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and it’s blowing off roofs and snapping trees in the eastern Caribbean, where officials closed schools, businesses and airports under the threat of flash flooding and landslides.

Forecasters say it might reach Florida as a tropical storm by Tuesday. The Category 1 storm unleashed heavy rains and winds on Barbados and on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which are struggling to recover from recent massive volcanic eruptions.

Authorities in Barbados reported damage but not deaths.