Polk State College is tracking Elsa

Posted on by Polk Newsroom

Tracking the storm

7/6/21 2 p.m. UPDATE: Polk State College continues to monitor Elsa and will remain open on Tuesday and Wednesday for normal operations. As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, Elsa was approximately 95 miles northwest of Key West and 180 miles south of Tampa with maximum sustained winds at 70 mph and movement to the north. Any changes in operations and updates will be communicated on www.polk.edu and the College’s social media.

7/5/21 8 p.m. UPDATE: Polk State College continues to monitor Elsa and will be open on Tuesday for normal operations. As of 8 p.m. Monday, Elsa was approximately 30 miles east of Havana and 115 miles south of Key West with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph and movement to the northwest. Any changes in operations and updates will be communicated on www.polk.edu and the College’s social media.

7/2/21 2 p.m. POST: Polk State College is tracking Hurricane Elsa and encourages students, faculty, staff, and members of the community to stay connected for updates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the College.

Polk State will continue to monitor the storm. There are no changes to College operations at this time. Updates will be provided on www.polk.edu, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

As of 2 p.m. Friday, the National Hurricane Center reported that Elsa was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour. The center of the storm is located about 95 miles west-northwest of St. Vincent or about 580 miles east-southeast of the Dominican Republic.

The entire Florida Peninsula, Florida Keys, and eastern Florida Panhandle are included in the day 5 forecast error cone, but no impacts to Florida are expected through Sunday afternoon.

Polk State urges everyone to sign up for AlertPolk and monitor messaging from Polk County Emergency Management, Florida Division of Emergency Management, and the National Hurricane Center.

College officials also encourage students, faculty, and staff to ensure their contact information in Passport is up to date to receive emergency alerts from Polk State. Students should check under “My Details” and employees should check under “Personal” and “Change Contact Info.” Numbers entered in the “Cellular Number” field in the “Personal Information” section will be used for emergency voice and text messages.