Fear factor: Fort Lauderdale ‘one hurricane away’ from being under water again

Fort Lauderdale was in the bull’s eye of an intense “1,000-year” rainstorm that swamped homes, streets and neighborhoods last year.

Residents of Broward County’s largest city didn’t have to wait long for the next deluge to hit.

In June, a storm dumped up to 20 inches of rain in 48 hours in parts of southern Broward, overwhelming drainage systems from Fort Lauderdale to Hallandale Beach and beyond and forcing a section of Interstate 95 to close for more than five hours.

Now Mayor Dean Trantalis and his colleagues on the dais are calling on everyone to be braced for the next big storm.

“We’re one hurricane away from having these neighborhoods under water again,” Commissioner Warren Sturman said. “I think we need to do everything in our power to make sure when the rain comes again — which it will — that we are prepared.”

Vice Mayor Steve Glassman warned that the recent flash floods are a sign of things to come. “More rain in a shorter amount of time is exactly what science tells us we should expect to see more of – and regardless of the science, as we grow, we must do a better job of finding smart places for water to go,” he said during a recent City Hall meeting.

Glassman called on city leaders to pioneer the way in finding solutions, even when it comes to the county’s flood-prone airport. The airport is owned and operated by the county but is located within three cities: Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Dania Beach.

“How many times does the airport have to close due to flooding until you realize it’s a real problem and start actually doing something about it?” Glassman said. “How many times does the airport employee parking lot need to flood for them to realize that they are impacting our residents?”

Trantalis warned that neighborhoods like Edgewood and River Oaks are fated to flood partly because they’re so close to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and absorb runoff from the airport and Interstate 595.

“We could put the most sophisticated drainage system in Edgewood and it’s still going to flood,” Trantalis said.

The airport, among the nation’s most vulnerable to flooding due to storms and sea level rise, can handle 17 inches of rain over three days. In April 2023 it got hit with 26 inches within 12 hours.

Inundated by floodwaters, the airport was forced to close for two days in April 2023.

The latest deluge in June didn’t shut down the airport, but it did lead to dozens of flights being canceled and delayed.

Prepping for new reality

Trantalis argues the county needs to install better drainage at the airport to help protect nearby neighborhoods.

“When the airport begins to accumulate water, it spills out into Osceola Creek, which is a gravity-driven pathway for water to flow into the other waterways,” he said. “And when it doesn’t have enough capacity, it overflows into those neighborhoods that are really close to that creek.”

Broward officials are well aware that flooding is a problem and is only going to get worse, said Steve Geller, a county commissioner and chair of the county’s water advisory board.

“We’re doing everything we can,” Geller said. “Historically, the canals drain out into the Intracoastal or the New River. Eventually the water winds up in the ocean. But over the last 30 years, the ocean has been rising.”

In 10 or 12 years, the ocean water will be at the same level as inland water, Geller said.

“That means whenever it rains, there will be nowhere to drain,” he said. “There is a way to fix this. The U.S. Army Corps owns the canals. They need giant pumps to pump the water uphill and they need higher banks or seawalls on their canals so you can put more water in them.”

Doing that will cost an estimated $10 billion and take at least a decade to complete, Geller said.

“We’re hoping the Army Corps will pay for half,” Geller said. “We can get the South Florida Water Management District to pay for 25 percent and the county would pay for 25 percent. We’d have to pass a special tax or something. But we have to do something.”

Fort Lauderdale still has much work to do to prepare for the “new reality” of a world undergoing significant climate change, Trantalis told residents in a newsletter sent last week.

Trantalis praised Fort Lauderdale’s public works team and emergency response staff for moving quickly to address the heavy rain by deploying 25 temporary pumps and 15 vacuum trucks to protect the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.

“The rains are another indicator of the need for the city to move forward aggressively with its planned upgrades to our stormwater drainage system and flood controls,” he said. “Unfortunately, many of our lowest-lying neighborhoods were built decades ago without any drainage system or ones barely able to handle the most minor of storms. Work to modernize these systems takes years to complete, but we are well underway.”

No quick fix

Fort Lauderdale is in the midst of a five-year, $200 million plan to improve drainage in seven of the city’s most flood-prone areas: Edgewood, River Oaks, Dorsey Riverbend, Durrs, Progresso, Victoria Park and Southeast Isles.

After last year’s record-breaking rainstorm flooded streets and homes, the city added 17 more neighborhoods to the list. The following areas are scheduled to get $500 million in stormwater upgrades over the next 10 years: Riverland Landings, Sailboat Bend, Tarpon River, Flagler Village, Harbor Isles/Inlet, Poinsettia Heights, South Middle River, Melrose Park, Shady Banks, Croissant Park, Middle River Terrace, Imperial Point, Lake Ridge, Riverland Manors/Woods, Chula Vista, Riverland Village and Lauderdale Isles.

“Our goal is to ensure that all new stormwater infrastructure can withstand up to 10 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, a significant improvement from previous standards,” the mayor said.

Fort Lauderdale spent $14.5 million on stormwater upgrades in Edgewood, installing 5.3 miles of new drainage pipe. The pipes in both neighborhoods won’t work until crews install high-capacity pump stations. That work should be done in December.

To help mitigate flooding in Edgewood, the city has removed an overgrowth of invasive trees that blocked the flow of water in Osceola Creek. Now crews are dredging 1,500 linear feet of the creek.

The $6.5 million project got underway last year and is nearing completion, the mayor said. The work is focused on a section of the creek that lies to the south of State Road 84 near Edgewood.

Last week, Sturman led an impromptu post mortem on the recent rainstorm.

“I feel for my neighborhood, because we always get the brunt of it,” Sturman said. “The two worst neighborhoods are Edgewood and River Oaks. Everybody’s putting fault on Fort Lauderdale leadership, but Oakland Park Boulevard at I-95 was under water. Brightline couldn’t go into Dade County. Aventura was flooded.”

Sturman asked Public Works Director Alan Dodd to talk about what went wrong and what went right.

Dodd told commissioners the city was somewhat caught off-guard because the weather forecasters didn’t predict all the rain that ended up falling.

“We knew going into that week that we were going to have heavy rain,” Dodd said. “And we were doing all the preparatory things we are supposed to do getting ready for the heavier rain. Our system is designed to handle about 3 to 3.5 inches of rain over a 24-hour period.”

Forecasters got it wrong

On Wednesday, June 12, the forecast called for 2 to 2.5 inches of rain over a 24-hour period, Dodd said. But that day, 9 to 11 inches of rain fell in different parts of the city over the course of about 12 hours.

“That is well beyond the capacity the stormwater system can handle,” Dodd said. “On Wednesday afternoon, we had already put contractors on notice and they were starting to deploy temporary pumps. And we were putting folks at risk, putting them out on the road where everybody else was trying to travel at the same time.”

Fort Lauderdale had 20 vacuum trucks on standby didn’t send them out “because it costs money” and the June 12 forecast only called for 2 to 2.5 inches of rain, Dodd said.

When it became apparent the forecast was wrong, the plan changed.

The next morning, on June 13, the city had 15 vacuum trucks and 15 pumps deployed to low-lying neighborhoods, Dodd told the commission.

Sturman had high praise for city staff, saying they did a great job addressing flooding and responding to residents.

“I know everybody’s frustrated, but I want to thank … Alan (Dodd), the police and fire department and particularly my staff. For 48 hours straight we didn’t get a wink of sleep.”

Not everyone thinks the city did such a great job.

Ted Inserra, president of the River Oaks Civic Association and one of four candidates challenging Sturman in the city’s upcoming November election, says the city should have deployed temporary pumps before the storm.

“They brought in the pumps after the storm was over,” Inserra said. “They should have been there before we got the flooding. We had water in houses. Sturman said he and his staff didn’t sleep for 24 hours. Neither did the residents who had water in their houses.”

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan