‘She was scared’: Another record-breaking downpour — and more worries of flooding in Broward

Lisa J. Huriash, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·3 min read

Another record-breaking downpour struck part of Broward, this time dropping more than 6 inches of rain at the airport, forcing flight cancellations and leaving some cars stalled out in flooded roadways.

Some residents — who were affected by the historic flooding in April that brought an unprecedented 26 inches of rain — not only worried about their homes potentially flooding, but also feared getting stranded on the drive home during Thursday night’s rainfall. There’s a chance it’ll rain more this weekend.

Steve Werthman, of Hollywood, watched a river flow down the street in front of his home. His worried wife, who was driving home from work, was caught off guard. “It caught her by surprise,” Werthman said. “She was scared. It causes worry when you’re driving — you don’t know where the deep areas are.”

While he waited for her to arrive safely, he watched the water and “literally it was flowing.”

The National Weather Service had issued a flood watch Thursday for coastal and metro Broward and Palm Beach counties. The problems in Broward County late Thursday were concentrated around Dania Beach and Fort Lauderdale, the weather service said. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, there was 6.19 inches of water recorded, which was a daily record for that date, most of it occurring in the evening, said Chris Fisher, meteorologist.

That created delays and cancelations Thursday evening, said Celina Saucedo, assistant director of Aviation/Administration. “Last night, we experienced some flooding which receded by 10 p.m.,” she said Friday. That also created lingering issues Friday morning including 11 cancellations and 78 flight delays.

Normal operations were expected to resume by the end of the day.

And in Hollywood, there was street flooding in several areas including Hollywood Lakes, Park Road in Hollywood Hills, and Lincoln Street in the North Central Neighborhood.

“Those were the areas where a few cars stalled out and where we deployed barricades,” said Raelin Storey, Hollywood’s assistant city manager. “We also had additional pumps deployed in flood-prone areas throughout the city and that seems to have helped to clear the water quickly once it stopped raining. Gauges at two of our fire stations showed we received between 6 and 7 inches of rain (Thursday) afternoon into evening.”

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For Fort Lauderdale residents like Robin Martin, the deluge of water brought back memories of historic flooding in April. Five inches of dirty water had flooded his home, and his family has been displaced ever since, waiting for insurance money to begin repairs. His family’s two cars were destroyed.

He said Friday he was planning on going back to check on his Edgewood house later in the day. And he was already worried.

“I’m afraid that it’s going to flood every time we have significant heavy rain,” he said.

Fort Lauderdale Assistant City Manager Susan Grant said the city reported some isolated street flooding, all of which receded at various times during the night.

The National Weather Service’s Fisher said the flood watch was not expected to be extended again.

“Rounds of repeated rain” had caused the problems. The weekend calls for scattered thunderstorms and showers, a “typical summertime pattern.” He promises although there will be rain, it will be “nothing like what we saw” Thursday.

His agency is “monitoring a few disturbances.” The one with the greatest chance of developing into a problem “is still well out in the Atlantic and that one has a 60% chance of developing over the next seven days.” But “as of right now, it will not (have any) impacts to South Florida.”

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash