A state of emergency was enacted in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on April 13 after torrential rain inundated several roadways and shut down a major airport. The end date of the emergency wasn’t specified.
Flooding is still affecting the city’s southern neighborhoods. Crews from Emergency Management responded nonstop all night long to calls for help.
A 10:30 a.m. bulletin warned that several roads across the city are still impassable due to flooding and asked residents to “avoid driving” if possible.
Water can better drain from neighborhoods due to crews clearing storm drains. The update notes that “most locations will need to drain naturally due to the significant amount of water.”
According to the National Weather Service in the United States, Fort Lauderdale received over 26 inches of rain on April 12. This precipitation came primarily in the space of a few hours. National Weather Service meteorologist Shawn Bhatti called the rainfall “an unusual event” in an interview with the Florida Sun-Sentinel. He said that the weather agency was still verifying totals. The amount dropped in only six hours is “roughly a 1 in 1,000 likelihood of occurring in any given year,” Bhatti said. This is a momentous occasion in history.
Because of flooding and a lack of electricity, the city hall in Fort Lauderdale stayed closed on April 13. Several on and off-ramps to Interstate 95, a tunnel that runs Route 1 under a river, and a critical roadway in Fort Lauderdale’s downtown were closed.
Amid the torrential rain on April 12, the National Weather Service announced that two EF-0 tornadoes had touched down near Dania Beach.
This was a 1,000-year storm that resulted in the weather service issuing a very rare flash flood advisory, Mayor Dean Trantalis of Fort Lauderdale told reporters on April 13.
The city, he said, is contacting federal and state officials for assistance.
