Hurricane Elsa heads to Haiti amid fears of floods and landslides

The storm already ripped off roofs, destroyed crops and downed trees and power lines in the eastern Caribbean on Friday.

Hurricane Elsa is racing towards Haiti and the Dominican Republic, threatening to unleash flooding and landslides before taking aim at Cuba and Florida. The Category 1 storm was located about 635km (395 miles) east-southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic, and was moving west-northwest at 46km/h (29mph) as of Saturday. It had maximum sustained winds of 130km/h (80mph), with the hurricane expected to become a tropical storm after hitting Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.