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It whipped the Florida Keys Tuesday morning with rain and sustained winds of 30-40 mph. Elsa is expected to move near Florida's west coast Tuesday afternoon and night, and perhaps make landfall by Wednesday morning along the north Florida Gulf Coast.
And it could strengthen into a hurricane before then, forecasters said.
"The warm ocean waters give it that fuel for the engine to really fire back up again ... (and) it could be near or at hurricane strength" when Elsa makes landfall by early Wednesday, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
A tropical storm warning -- alerting people to expect conditions including winds of at least 39 mph -- is in effect for much of Florida's west coast.
But the major wind and rain threats are expected to be in western Florida.
About 3 to 8 inches of rain could fall from the Florida Keys to western parts of the Florida peninsula through Wednesday -- threatening flash flooding, the hurricane center said.
Storm surge warnings are in place for the west coast of Florida from Bonita Beach through the northern portions of the Big Bend region, with the highest surge expected to be between 3 and 5 feet from Englewood to the outlet for the Aucilla River -- including Tampa Bay.
Isolated tornadoes are also possible.
People in southern and western Florida have been preparing by filling sand bags, opening shelters, closing businesses and schools, and activating local emergency operations centers.
Cuba was getting heavy rainfall Tuesday morning from Elsa. Rainfall of 5 to 15 inches is expected there through Tuesday night, threatening significant flash flooding and mudslides.
Residents and businesses prepare
Authorities across Florida offered free sandbags to residents to help prevent flooding and are encouraging people to prepare for the storm by stocking up on supplies and heeding local warnings.
At least four counties in the Tampa area -- Hillsborough, Pinellas, Hernando and Manatee -- opened shelters for residents, while others have activated emergency operations centers to prepare for the storm.
"We've had other storms in the past that seemed like nothing but they end up with a lot of flood damage," the emergency official warned.
Tampa International Airport said Tuesday it would close to commercial flights at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, and to cargo flights at 10 p.m. ET. It anticipated reopening Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET.
People lined up Monday in Manatee and Hillsborough counties to fill free sandbags to help prevent flooding.
"This is our first experience. We got the notification that we could get sandbags, and we're right on some water, so we just want to do everything that we can at this point," the woman said.
Even some businesses are closing ahead of the storm.
"As far as the impact goes, I don't think we're going to have a major weather event," Bowen said.
Into Georgia and the Carolinas later this week
The current forecast following landfall in western Florida has the storm moving to the northeast across the lowlands of Georgia, perhaps as a tropical storm, on Wednesday -- and the Carolinas, perhaps as a tropical depression, on Thursday.
It could exit into the Atlantic on Thursday or Friday. Elsa could then be a rainmaker for the extreme eastern seaboard until it pushes into the north Atlantic.
CNN's Jackson Dill, Monica Garrett, Michael Guy and Tina Burnside contributed to this report.