Thursday, Jun 13, 2024 10:19 PMUpdated Friday, Jun. 14, 2024 10:45 AM
Two women react as they see flooding on their street, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in North Miami, Fla. A tropical disturbance has brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Although more rain could trigger additional isolated Florida flooding on Friday, forecasters say the strong, persistent storms that dumped up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) in southern parts of the state appear to have passed.
Some neighborhood streets in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas still have standing water, although it is rapidly receding, officials said.
“The worst flooding risk was the last three days,” said Sammy Hadi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami. “The heaviest rainfall has concluded.”
The no-name storm system pushed across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico at roughly the same time as the early June start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory amid concerns that climate change is increasing storm intensity.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a media briefing in Hollywood, south of Fort Lauderdale, and said while more rain was coming, it’s likely to be more typical of South Florida afternoon showers this time of year.
“We are going to get some more rain today, maybe throughout the balance of the weekend. Hopefully it’s not approaching the levels that it was, but we have a lot of resources staged here and we’ll be able to offer the state’s assistance,” he said.
DeSantis said the state has deployed about 100 pumps in addition to what cities and counties are using to try to clear water from streets.
Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said while flooding was extensive, there were no reports of destroyed homes and very few of severely damaged homes. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported.
“We don’t think there’s going to be enough damage to necessarily qualify for a federal disaster declaration,” DeSantis said. But he added the storms may have affected enough business to qualify for Small Business Administration assistance.
The downpours hit Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, delaying flights at two of the state’s largest airports and leaving vehicles waterlogged and stalled in some of the region’s lowest-lying streets. The main problem was hundreds of vehicles that were stranded on streets as people were unable to navigate the flood waters.
“Looked like the beginning of a zombie movie,” said Ted Rico, a tow truck driver who spent much of Wednesday night and Thursday morning helping to clear the streets of stalled vehicles. “There’s cars littered everywhere, on top of sidewalks, in the median, in the middle of the street, no lights on. Just craziness, you know. Abandoned cars everywhere.”
Rico, of One Master Trucking Corp., was born and raised in Miami and said he was ready for the emergency.
“You know when its coming,” he said. “Every year it’s just getting worse, and for some reason people just keep going through the puddles.”
On Thursday morning, Daniela Urrieche, 26, was bailing water out of her SUV, which got stuck on a flooded street as she drove home from work Wednesday.
“In the nine years that I’ve lived here, this has been the worst,” she said. “Even in a hurricane, streets were not as bad as it was in the past 24 hours.”
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Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, and Stephany Matat in Hallandale Beach contributed to this story.
This aerial view taken from video shows a flooded street in Northeast Miami-Dade County, Fla., on Thursday, June 13, 2024. A tropical disturbance brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida the day before. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Daniel Kozin)
This aerial view taken from video shows people walking on a flooded street in Northeast Miami-Dade County, Fla., on Thursday, June 13, 2024. A tropical disturbance brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida the day before. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Daniel Kozin)
This aerial view taken from video shows a flooded street in Northeast Miami-Dade County, Fla., on Thursday, June 13, 2024. A tropical disturbance brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida the day before. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Daniel Kozin)
Francisco Lopez stands near the flooded parking lot of his apartment building, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Hallandale, Fla. A tropical disturbance has brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
This aerial view taken from video shows multiple cars stranded on a road in Northeast Miami-Dade County, Fla., on Thursday, June 13, 2024. A tropical disturbance brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida the day before. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Daniel Kozin)
A man walks on a flooded street on his way to work, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in North Miami, Fla. A tropical disturbance has brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
A woman walks with her belongings on a flooded street, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in North Miami, Fla. Over 20 inches of rain fell over two days was in North Miami. A tropical disturbance has brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
This aerial view taken from video shows multiple cars stranded on a road in Northeast Miami-Dade County, Fla., on Thursday, June 13, 2024. A tropical disturbance brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida the day before. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Daniel Kozin)
Residents in the sea-side town of Surfside, Fla., fill sandbags to protect their homes for more flooding expected on Thursday, June 13, 2024. A tropical disturbance brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida the day before. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Mike Viesel and his dog Humi, wait in his flooded car for a tow truck after the car stalled on Taft Street due to heavy rain flooding the neighborhood on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, in Hollywood, Fla. The annual rainy season has arrived with a wallop in much of Florida, where a disorganized disturbance of tropical weather from the Gulf of Mexico has caused street flooding and triggered tornado watches but so far has not caused major damage or injuries. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP)
