South Floridians woke up Thursday morning to their homes flooded, streets gridlocked with abandoned cars and rescue efforts underway after nearly 26 inches of rain fell in a period of less than seven hours. And the rain kept coming Thursday evening, dumping more rain on already flooded roads.
Paul Guerrero and his family joined thousands of area residents taking stock of the damage left behind by the storm that forced courts and schools to close.
As the waterline rose toward the front door of his home in Fort Lauderdale’s
Edgewood community, Guerrero, 58, his wife and his 31-year-old son placed towels under their doors, just in case late Wednesday.
Guerrero, who has lived on the 1000 block of Southwest 29th Street for 26 years, watched the water infiltrate his home. He worried for his eight cats, two dogs, two turtles and an African Grey parrot as the water came in under the door, through the windows, through the very walls, until there was almost 3 feet in the house.
The rainfall appears to have broken a Florida daily record set for a single location (23.28 inches observed in Key West, Florida, back on Nov. 11, 1980), according to Accuweather’s chief meteorologist, Jonathan Porter. A flash flood emergency had been extended to at least 8 p.m. Thursday for Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill, Hollywood, Dania Beach and Sunrise.
Major roadways and intersections were impassable, to say nothing of the side roads people would normally use as detours. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport closed about 5 p.m. Wednesday, and officials hope to reopen it Friday morning.
Finally, about 10 a.m., a stranger in a swamp buggy came to his door and asked if he needed help, Guerrero accepted.
He was able to fit his family, including his brother-in-law, all eight cats and the two dogs onto the buggy, but had to leave the two turtles and the parrot, hoping they’ll stay safe until he gets back.
While severe thunderstorms moved over the saturated areas Thursday, the National Weather Service forecast it would bring less than 1 inch of rain.
The Henry E. Kinney Tunnel in downtown Fort Lauderdale remained closed Thursday and parts of Broward Boulevard were closed to traffic as well, although water was receding in other parts of the city and traffic was moving.
The city called residents in the middle of the afternoon with a recorded message asking them to avoid driving until the water recedes.
Hector Ortega, 36, of Davie, didn’t need the reminder. After picking up his daughter from school Wednesday, he tried to drive home to his neighborhood just northeast of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino near Hollywood. He didn’t make it.
“It had already started flooding into the car, so we decided to just bounce and get the rest of the way,” he said. “Then we hit a speed bump, and the water went above the headlights, and that was it. The car submerged and shut down .