What’s Eta done to Miami area roads? Cars sink on streets and a truck hangs off highway

David J. Neal
·2 min read

Tropical Storm Eta has demonstrated with life-threatening clarity the dangers of being a driver in the storm.

Several streets in or near downtown Miami, including the Brickell area and the Bayshore Drive area, could’ve been easier negotiated by raft than Range Rover. Drivers abandoned their stalled and sinking cars downtown and others had to navigate a flooded swath of Miami Gardens.

Bayshore Drive, north of 15th Street, Monday morning, after Tropical Storm Eta.
Bayshore Drive, north of 15th Street, Monday morning, after Tropical Storm Eta.

The city of Hollywood told residents to avoid an area bordered by 64th Avenue on the east side, 72nd Avenue on the west side, Johnson Street on the south side and Sheridan Street on the north side. Also, everywhere east of 13th Avenue from Washington Street to Harrison Street.

“Some roads are completely under water,” the Lauderhill Fire Rescue Public Information Office tweeted Monday morning at 8:03 with photographic evidence. “Canals have merged with roads and some fire hydrants are nearly submerged. Please stay home and stay safe.”

Lauderhill streets, Monday morning, after Tropical Storm Eta hit. Note the fire hydrant.
Lauderhill streets, Monday morning, after Tropical Storm Eta hit. Note the fire hydrant.

And the best example of that came about 11 hours earlier in Lauderhill, Sunday night, in the 4100 block of 21st Street. Flooded streets obscured where the street ended and where the canal began. A driver drove into the canal. Lauderhill Fire Rescue said one person was pulled out and taken to Broward Health in critical condition.

Lauderhill Fire Rescue pulled one person from a car that drove into a canal Sunday night.
Lauderhill Fire Rescue pulled one person from a car that drove into a canal Sunday night.

For visuals, nothing was more striking than the semi-truck that crashed off the westbound lanes of State Road 826, the Palmetto Expressway, around 5 Monday morning. Frightening as the crash near Northwest 47th Avenue appeared, the driver got out with only minor injuries, Florida Highway Patrol said.

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Tropical Storm Eta closed South Florida schools and beaches. What else is affected?