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Rainfall runoff from Tropical Storm Elsa likely will raise Lake Okeechobee’s level by 6 inches, but there are no plans to release excess water east into the St. Lucie River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Friday. «Right now, we are comfortable and don’t anticipate releases. That’s obviously pending another storm event,» Florida commander Col. Andrew Kelly said. «(Tropical Storm Elsa) did not really manifest too much directly over the lake.» Lake O’s level — technically its elevation above sea level — was nearly 13 feet,2½ inches Friday, according to Corps data. That’s about: As rainfall runoff from the storm continues to drain into the watershed over the next few days, the lake’s level ultimately is expected to increase overall by a half-foot, Kelly said. Elsa fluctuated between a weak hurricane and an even weaker and disorganized tropical storm, beginning July 1. Elsa made landfall as a tropical storm with 65 mph winds in Taylor County, north of Steinhatchee, around 11 a.m. Wednesday. «I certainly was concerned about Elsa when it was in the Caribbean, and I was concerned that we got an ‘E’ storm this early in the year,» Kelly said Friday, referring to the World Meteorological Organization’s Atlantic cyclone naming system.
