Major flooding hits South Florida, inundates Fort Lauderdale

Digital Writers
Updated ·11 min read
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Major flooding hits South Florida, inundates Fort Lauderdale

Heavy rain pounded South Florida on Wednesday, inundating places like Fort Lauderdale and leaving behind flooded streets and stranded cars. A flash flood emergency — the highest level of flood warning — was issued for South Florida, but was expired early Thursday morning.

"This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION," the U.S. National Weather Service warned. "Move to higher ground now! This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order."

MUST SEE: Get ahead of disaster: Six tips to manage flooding

The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport experienced flight delays and was eventually shut down due to the severe weather. It was expected to be closed until at least noon on Thursday.

A low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico and an associated boundary is slowly sliding north across the Gulf states, including Florida.

"A supercell thunderstorm is what stalled over the Fort Lauderdale area prompting tornado warnings and the flash flood emergencies on Wednesday," says Kelly Sonnenburg, a meteorologist at The Weather Network. "Rainfall rates of more than 3 inches (76 mm) per hour were recorded late Wednesday."

Preliminary rainfall totals of 14-20+ inches (350-500 mm) have been reported.

More rain is forecast for the region on Thursday, and while it won't be nearly as significant as what fell on Wednesday, it will still complicate clean-up efforts and result in additional flooding.

Here's a closer look at what's being deemed as a "1-in-1000 year" rainfall event.

With files from CNN