Heavy rains have been battering the South East coast of Florida. The big news yesterday was the Fort Lauderdale Airport was forced to close. The airport will remain closed at least until noon on Thursday. Many of the roads around the airport are still flooded. Flights have been diverted to Miami.
#TravelAlert No. 5. Please note that #FLL is now expected to remain closed until at least noon (12PM) on Thursday, April 13, 2023. The entrance roadways are still closed until further notice. Roadway updates will be provided as more information is available... pic.twitter.com/tu02MavaeJ
— Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Int'l Airport (FLL) (@FLLFlyer) April 13, 2023
Estimates have the rainfall totals of 22.5″ of rain in 7 hours (3 to 10 pm) at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
The downtown Fort Lauderdale area has also been heavily affected. Countless cars are stranded. Many neighborhoods are flooded and a tornado warning was issued last night. The mess continued into Thursday, as reported by CBS News “The flooding prompted Broward County public schools to cancel classes and all activities on Thursday because of flooding.”
So what happened in Fort Lauderdale?
A storm cell parked over the are and would not move. It just stayed there. Instead of the usual storms sweeping through the area, this one decided to hang over the Dania Beach area. They were buried with over 20 inches of rain in a short time. Here’s some of the video and pictures that they are waking up to today as they try to go about their daily routine in South Florida.