A tropical storm watch was issued for the Florida Keys from Craig Key westward to the Dry Tortugas last night as Tropical Storm Elsa headed toward the state.

Elsa, which battered the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic yesterday, was downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane Saturday morning. The storm has left at least three people dead.

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

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was moving in a west-northwesterly direction at about 14 mph by early this morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm was forecast to hit Cuba next on a path that would take it to Florida early in the week.

Elsa prompted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency in 15 Florida counties, including Miami-Dade County, where a high-rise condominium building collapsed last week. The standing portion of the building was expected to demolished “a soon as possible” amid concerns over Elsa approaching, the governor said Saturday.

Elsa was expected to slow down and turn northwest by Sunday night or Monday when the Keys could start seeing storm conditions.

Elsa is then expected to move near or over parts of the Gulf coast of Florida by Tuesday, the hurricane center said. Some models show it heading into the Gulf or up the Atlantic Coast. Elsa’s exact path remained uncertain.