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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.
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,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief Stephen Gollan warned. “There are cars getting stuck in flooded waters, just (adding) to the emergencies that are taking place.”
HISTORIC STORM FORECAST:First April tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico? Latest forecast says history unlikely.
Latest developments:
►The Red Cross was setting up a staging area to help residents whose homes were flooded, providing them with blankets and coffee, officials said.
►Video from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport showed water coming in the door at an airport terminal and a virtual river rushing down the tarmac between planes.
Fort Lauderdale flooding, rain are ‘life threatening’; tornadoes possible
The one-day rain total in Fort Lauderdale is equal to almost 40% 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!”
Heavy rain was possible late Thursday, especially over the metro areas of Broward and Miami Dade Counties, the weather service said, which could lead to flooding especially across areas that are already saturated from recent heavy rainfall. Scattered thunderstorms were expected to continue into Thursday evening, some severe in nature with damaging winds and hail up to the size of quarters. A few brief tornadoes were possible, forecasters said.
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Fort Lauderdale airport shut down after ‘unprecedented rainfall’
The storms prompted Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to suspend all flights Wednesday afternoon through at least 5 p.m. Thursday. Airport officials said they hoped to restore partial operations on one runway – providing conditions did not worsen. Access was another issue: The airport’s roadways were shut down by flooding. Travelers were warned not to attempt to enter or leave the airport. More than 640 flights were canceled through Wednesday and early Thursday.
“While stalled vehicles are being removed from the upper/lower levels, the main exit artery remains flooded & congested with slow-moving traffic,” the airport said in a statement early Thursday. “We ask for your patience as we wait to safely assess the impacts of this unprecedented rainfall to restore airport operations when it is safe.”
Broward County closes schools
Broward County shut down all of its more than 300 public schools because of the weather crisis. The school said the decision was made out of an “overabundance of caution,” that the safety and well-being of students and staff was the top priority. Toni Barnes, Broward Schools director of emergency management, told WPLG-TV that some schools experienced severe flooding.
“The water made its way into the hallways, into the classrooms,” Barnes said. “We had to call fire rescue to assist our parents out of their cars to get them into the school because they were trapped.”
THURSDAY FORECAST:Fire fears stretch across the country; storms possible in the Plains, Southeast
Threat of severe flooding to spread up to Carolinas
Thunderstorms and winds continued to gain strength over the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico, Accuweather warned. The threats were forecast to spread across parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas into Friday evening.
Late last week forecasters had warned the emerging storm system could become the first April tropical storm ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. AccuWeather reported on Monday that the conditions for a tropical storm to develop had deteriorated but warned of heavy rains, gusty winds and thunderstorms.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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