Rain of “biblical proportions”: Fort Lauderdale residents stranded in homes, cars – “This is way more scary and terrifying than any hurricane I’ve been through down here”
By Peter Charalambous
14 April 2023
(ABC News) – More than 2 feet of rain has brought Fort Lauderdale to a standstill, shutting down the city’s airport and stranding drivers on flooded streets — and more flash flooding is on its way.
Drivers caught in Wednesday’s flood waters overwhelmed the Broward County Sheriff’s Office with 911 calls. The office advised stranded residents not to call their office, suggesting instead to “call a tow truck company.”
The flash flooding came as a surprise to many locals despite the state being accustomed to daily torrents of rain and strong winds from hurricanes.
“The amount of rain, the rainfall rate is something you should see once in in every 1,000 years or once in every 2,000 years.”
Dan DePodwin, AccuWeather’s director of forecast operations
“It was like someone turned the faucet on over Fort Lauderdale and just walked away,” resident James Gainey said.
The city was submerged under 25.91 inches of rain in less than 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary report, setting a new record for a 24-hour rainfall event in the state.
The heavy and concentrated rain prompted Broward County public schools to shut down on Thursday.
The weather also prompted Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international Airport to suspend flights. Ground transportation entrances and exits became “impassable” due to flooding.
The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport reopened at about 9 a.m. Friday.
Stephanie Spiegel was stranded at the Fort Lauderdale airport for over 12 hours due to the weather.
She described rain of “biblical proportions.” Her plane waited on the tarmac for three hours before passengers were told to deplane.
“I am absolutely stranded at Fort Lauderdale International Airport with a whole bunch of probably thousands of other people,” she said.
Her flight to New York was canceled and the likelihood of catching a connecting flight to Edinburgh, Scotland, for a hiking trip looked dim.
“I’ve tried to have family come pick me up but all the roads are blocked from the airport in and out,” she said. “People have been trying to scurry around and no one’s able to get out.”
Gainey’s home flooded on Wednesday, forcing him and his three dogs to search for a safe and dry location to sleep.
Accustomed to the hurricanes that typically impact his home, Gainey said the torrential rain took him by surprise, likely damaging parts of his home. He described evacuating and navigating treacherous roads and the floodwaters reached his Toyota 4Runner’s hood.
“The water was more like a flash flood … it was coming in from everywhere,” he said. “And I didn’t have time to grab any kind of anything out of the house. I grabbed the three dogs when I ran outside with them.”
He eventually found dry ground at a McDonald’s parking lot, where he could walk his dogs Ryan, Chloe and Molly as well as feed them some McNuggets. Worried about hitting more floodwaters in search of a hotel, they all slept in Gainey’s SUV overnight.
“This was way worse than a hurricane,” he said. “This is way more scary and terrifying than any hurricane I’ve been through down here.” [more]
Rain of ‘biblical proportions’: Fort Lauderdale residents stranded in homes, cars
“Once in every 1,000-2,000 years”: Storm swamps Fort Lauderdale with 25 inches of rain
By John Bacon and Jorge L. Ortiz
(USA TODAY) – South Florida was under siege and under water Thursday amid a storm that dumped 25 inches of rain over some coastal areas, flooding homes and highways and forcing the shutdown of a major airport.
Fort Lauderdale was slammed with 25.95 inches of rainfall in 24 hours, AccuWeather reported. Some areas received 20 inches of rain in six hours. Hollywood and South Miami received at least 9 inches of rain.
“The amount of rain, the rainfall rate is something you should see once in in every 1,000 years or once in every 2,000 years,” Dan DePodwin, AccuWeather’s director of forecast operations, told USA TODAY.
AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said at one point Fort Lauderdale got about 1 1/2 inches of rain in 10 minutes, “close to the United States’ all-time record for rain in that short period of time.”
Both Fort Lauderdale and its home county of Broward issued a state of emergency as flooding forced residents in some areas to wade through knee-high water or use canoes and kayaks to navigate the streets. Work crews cleared drains and pumped out standing water Thursday after the previous day’s deluge.
A flood watch was in effect across much of South Florida through Thursday night, the National Weather Service said.
Sections of I-95, the state’s main north-south traffic artery, were overwhelmed by water for several hours. Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief Stephen Gollan warned of “severe flooding in multiple areas” of the city of 180,000 residents.
“Stay off the roads until some of this water dissipates,” Gollan warned. “There are cars getting stuck in flooded waters, just (adding) to the emergencies that are taking place.”
The one-day rain total in Fort Lauderdale is equal to almost 40 percent of the average for an entire year, DePodwin said. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for Fort Lauderdale and other areas into Thursday as the chance of thunderstorms continued across the region, warning: “This is a life-threatening situation. Seek higher ground now!” [more]
‘Once in every 1,000-2,000 years’: Storm swamps Fort Lauderdale with 25 inches of rain:
