Jersey Shore prepares for brush with Elsa

Jersey shore prepares for brush with Elsa

Shawnette Wilson talks with vacationers and officials in Ocean City about how they are preparing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa.

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - Florida is just starting to clean up from Tropical Storm Elsa, from downed trees, power lines and boats sunk, while thousands go without power.

New Jersey and the Delaware beaches are bracing for a glancing blow from the tropical system.

A calm night after a beautiful beach day, but come Thursday night into Friday things are expected to change.

"I never thought that New Jersey had nice beaches, so I'm actually blown away coming here for the very first time," said Ash Sakam. He and his family are in Ocean City for a family reunion. They’re visiting from Minnesota.

"I was worried about the hurricane down south making its way up here," he commented. The family is planning to be indoors the rest of the week after making the most of Wednesday.

"I went kayaking and then also I went jet skiing with my dad," said Ash’s son, Yousef.

Jim Eberwine is the Emergency Management Coordinator for Absecon and a retired meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He says officials are getting the word out far in advance.

"To get the people out of the water because you're going to have concerns with rip currents. You're going to have concerns with some boaters who may want to go out 24 hours and try to sit out overnight," he said.

Jersey Shore braces for Elsa as tropical storm warnings issued

Officials and residents down the shore are bracing for impact as Elsa is expected to bring rain, gusty winds, and potential flooding to parts of the area Thursday night and into Friday morning.

There's also the potential for damaging winds, up to five inches of rain and some tidal flooding. Eberwine says they're watching the outer bands of Elsa too.

"They're going to be rotating in off the ocean and on that outer band is where you have potential threat for tornadoes," Eberwine commented.

Danielle Artise said the water got a little choppy as the evening progressed. Maybe a sign of what's to come.

"I will say the lifeguards, they were on guard blowing for people who went too far out or who actually didn't go in in between the flags. So they were really watching," Artise explained.

The National Weather Service says 49 people have lost their lives to rip currents so far this year.

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Weather Authority: Isolated storms Wednesday night, as focus turns to Elsa Thursday