by Heavy rains flooded highways in South Florida on Wednesday, closing the Fort Lauderdale airport until Thursday, stranding travelers and causing “severe flooding” that paralyzed cars, officials and forecasters said.
The city of 181,000 he said early thursday activated its emergency operations center and secured airboats to perform any rescue.
Radar estimates showed 11 to 12 inches of rain in the Fort Lauderdale area, with up to 17 inches more near the coast, Chuck Caracozza, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Miami, said Wednesday night.
A flash flood emergency has been issued for areas near Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach, but even after it expired early Thursday, a flood warning remained until 8 a.m. Fort Lauderdale Fire Department reported severe flood.
“It is extremely dangerous here in the Fort Lauderdale area,” Caracozza said. “People should avoid the roads and stay off the roads.”
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport said it would be closed until at least noon Thursday. The entrance and exit roads were flooded and disabled vehicles were being removed from the upper levels.
“The roads, you can’t get in or out, so there’s a whole airport full of people who are being held hostage here,” said Wendy Sachs, who had been stranded at the airport since 3 p.m., around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. .
Sachs’ flight to Newark, New Jersey, never left. She described the flooding as “biblical” and said everyone was trying to get a rental car, not to leave immediately, as the flooding made that impossible, but just to save one.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Sachs, who grew up in Miami.
Video issued by nbc miami It showed flooding in an airport parking lot and cars driving through flooded streets in Dania Beach, a city south of Fort Lauderdale.
“We ask that you stay off the roads until some of this water dissipates,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief Stephen Gollan told residents in a video the city manager shared Wednesday. Cars get stuck, he said.
Passenger rail service between Miami and Fort Lauderdale has been suspended, carrier Brightline said.
The flash flood emergency for Fort Lauderdale and other parts of Broward County was originally supposed to expire at 11 p.m. but has been extended to 2 a.m.
Broward County Public Schools saying schools would be closed Thursday due to weather.
The county sheriff’s office tweeted that a regional communications center was being inundated with 911 calls about the rain and urged people to save that number for emergencies.
The Fort Lauderdale government said city facilities would also be closed Thursday.
It said in a statement that its stormwater system is designed to handle 3 inches of rain over 24 hours, with 12 inches falling in some neighborhoods.
Hollywood, Florida, which is south of Fort Lauderdale, reported that many areas of the city of 150,000 were impassable early Thursday.
“Avoid all unnecessary travel and if you are in a safe place, stay there until the flood waters recede,” the city said. tweeted.
the weather service had predicted heavy rain in parts of Florida Wednesday due to a rising warm front. Rain and wind are expected to move toward the central Gulf Coast on Thursday.
