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Tropical Storm Elsa, which only briefly reached hurricane status, came ashore Wednesday morning on the upper Gulf Coast.

The storm came quickly and left quietly.

The Keaton Beach RV Park we visited was all but deserted, with many leaving their campers behind.

As Elsa came ashore, park owner Spyridon Aibejeris was still worried about rising water.

“It might flood the ground, but I don’t think get bad enough to really damage anything,” said Aibejeris.

In Steinhatchee, where Elsa came ashore, we found flooded streets and several downed trees.

We also found 10-year-old Bryson turning the storm’s minor flooding into some fun.

We asked him why he decided to jump in.

“I don’t know, because it flooded,” said Bryson.

We even helped Roger Carnes get debris out from under a dock.

“The wind blew this way all day and had the water out. It wasn’t that much of a big deal of storm, but now that it’s passed us, it’s started now to bring in the storm surge,” said Carnes.

At an 8 AM briefing, the Governor was breathing a sigh of relief.

“We looked at 72 hours ago, I think the impacts have been less than what we thought would be reasonable,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.

While the storm’s impacts appear to be relatively minor, the Governor is cautioning that the worst danger may still lie ahead.

“You know, we typically have seen fatalities after a storm passes,” said DeSantis.

And although it appears the state dodged a bullet, it will be good practice for the next storm.
“You know, just caution people. This part of the year is not the major leagues for tropical cyclone activity,” said DeSantis.

The Governor cautioned home owners about removing debris from their roofs.

He noted falls from roofs after a storm are frequent causes of fatalities.