HAVANA (AP) — Cuba evacuated 180,000 people amid fears yesterday that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.

The Cuban Government had opened shelters and moved to protect sugar cane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm.

Most of those evacuated went to relatives’ homes while some people sheltered at government facilities. Hundreds living in mountainous areas took refuge in natural caves that had been prepared for the emergency.

The storm’s next target is Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties including Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.

The storm is expected to gradually weaken as it moves across Cuba today.

One death was reported in St Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency.

In addition, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center.

In the meantime, acting head of the public service in Barbados, Mark Cummins has indicated that in the aftermath of Hurricane Elsa, damage assessments are being done on government buildings across the island.

Speaking during a press conference over the weekend, Cummins said reports so far have indicated that there was damage to the Civil Aviation Building and three schools.

He also noted that the Barbados Public Service should be operational and ready to serve the public today.

For her part, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said while plans are being made to deliver public services starting this morning, a few departments may be affected “because of internal damage that we are not yet aware of”.

The prime minister also pointed out that some public officers might be victims of Hurricane Elsa and, based on this, she has appealed to the public for patience and consideration as the country navigates this difficult period.

Meanwhile, concerning repair work to rebuild houses that were damaged during the passing of the storm, Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance Dr William Duguid said that this will be a “mammoth task”.

According to Duguid, 700 houses had roof problems and those that would require total rebuilding would be carried out by the National Housing Corporation (NHC) and the Urban and Rural Development Commissions.

Dugid said this would get under way in 48 hours and that the commissions would carry out their work in relation to certain geographic locations.

“The National Housing Corporation will be doing the houses that are wall and wood — masonry and carpentry together — and those obviously will need a little more engineering works, and those are the ones that the National Housing Corporation will tend to…

“When we rebuild these houses we will be very specific on focusing on using roof straps and strapping the house to the foundation as well, because I think a lot of the houses that we are seeing problems with… both with the freak storm and with the hurricane that just passed, a lot of houses did not have hurricanes straps or those that may have had some type of hurricane straps did not also have the strapping from the foundation on to the house itself.”

The housing minister also encouraged those people who are able to carry out repairs to their houses, if provided with the materials, to do so and said the NHC would be the focal point for persons needing materials only.

Duguid also called on the public to bear with the agencies as they undertake to carry out the minor and major repairs to the houses.

“It is a mammoth task; please work with us. Bear with us as we work through it. We’re collecting as much information as we can, getting as many of them assessed as possible, and we’re going to hit the ground running to get as many done — together with those from this storm and the freak storm before,” he reassured.

Additional reporting from CMC.