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Parts of Fort Lauderdale in southeast Florida are still facing dangers from high waters on Saturday after monumental flooding inundated the coastal area with hurricane-esque rainfall a matter of hours this week.
Authorities said Saturday they have deployed 34 pumping trucks across the city after rain exceeding two feet shut down a major airport, schools and administrative offices for several days earlier this week. Buildings were flooded, and cars and highways were left underwater.
Local officials have also set up water distribution stations and warned residents Saturday to avoid floodwaters that could contain downed power lines, contaminants, debris, rodents and snakes.
Animals lurking in flood waters have proven deadly in the past. In Louisiana, an alligator was suspected of attacking a 71-year-old man in Hurricane Ida floodwaters in 2021. Local authorities captured an alligator weeks later and found what appeared to be human remains inside its stomach.
Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, called the severe weather “the second most catastrophic flooding event that I’ve seen in my tenure as emergency manager … over the last 33 years,” surpassed only by Hurricane Ian last year.
The rare and extreme rainfall event that hit South Florida occurred less than two months away from the start of the Atlantic hurricane season on June 1.
“It’s probably even worse than what we would see in a hurricane,” Bill Deger, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist, previously told USA TODAY.
No deaths reported; calls for help down
The fire department in Fort Lauderdale, among the hardest-hit by flooding in the region, responded to more than 250 calls for help Thursday, a drop from the 900 calls the day before, the city’s Mayor Dean Trantalis said at a Friday news conference.
He said multiple fires and other emergency events were likely directly related to the storm, and a large part of the city still faces flooding as crews survey the damage.
But Trantalis said he was thankful that no deaths were reported — and only two injuries among firefighters who were shocked by an electrical line during rescue efforts.
More rain sets back recovery efforts in southeast Florida
Fort Lauderdale residents woke up to sunny, clear skies Saturday as the city tries to return to normal. But Sunday and Monday may bring a chance of showers and thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service.
Some areas of Fort Lauderdale were still seeing one to three feet of flooding as additional rain hit the region Thursday, Trantalis said Friday.
“While Thursday evening’s additional rain was a setback, our crews and mutual aid partners have been working around the clock on recovery efforts,” he said.
Guthrie said swamp buggies and high water vehicles were being used door to door “to make sure we’re getting residents out of their homes,” some of which saw floodwaters rise up to the window sills.
The Red Cross opened an emergency shelter and family reunification center in the city and was housing 40 people as of Friday.
The city’s electric vehicle shuttle service is back, as is its water taxi. The Fort Lauderdale airport reopened Friday. And the three-day Tortuga Music Festival is expected to continue as planned this weekend.
“Fort Lauderdale suffered a major impact from a highly unusual extreme weather event. But we are well on our way to recovery with the help that we are receiving,” Trantalis said.
Contact Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
Contributing: Ashley R. Williams and Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
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