Tropical Storm Sally brings foot of rain to Florida Keys, several inches to Miami-Dade

Aaron Leibowitz, Gwen Filosa
·3 min read

Tropical Storm Sally drenched much of South Florida this weekend, causing flooding as it dropped about a foot of rain on parts of Key West and several inches in much of Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Just before 1 p.m. Sunday, the National Weather Service said that while southwest Florida saw the heaviest rainfall since Saturday, parts of the Miami metro area got about five inches of rain overnight.

In Homestead, water seeped into people’s homes, WSVN reported. Downtown Miami saw about three inches of rain Saturday into Sunday, leaving parts of Biscayne Blvd. underwater.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning around 1 a.m. for much of North Dade, saying one to two inches of rain had already fallen and two to four inches more were expected. The highest 24-hour rainfall total reported in Miami-Dade County at 7 a.m. was 6.6 inches at Miami International Airport, according to the South Florida Water Management District.

Florida Power and Light reported over 1,500 customers in Miami-Dade and over 300 in Broward without power Sunday afternoon.

Sally moved west across the state and into the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday morning and is expected to achieve hurricane strength as it reaches the Northern Gulf Coast on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. update Sunday.

The storm is forecast to become a hurricane late Monday with some additional strengthening Tuesday as it possibly makes landfall Tuesday near Louisiana and Mississippi. A hurricane watch is also in effect along the border of Florida and Alabama.

Keys get hit hard

The Florida Keys were soaked overnight Sunday. More than 11 inches fell in Key West at the National Weather Service station in midtown, while nine inches of rain was reported at Key West International Airport.

Streets became no-wake zones and several residents reported water entering their homes during the lengthy, torrential downpour.

Josephine Miller was working at a candy shop in the 100 block of Duval Street during the soaking. She and her co-workers placed sandbags at the door to try to stop the water that was seeping inside.

“We were soaked by the end of the night,” Miller said. Then she had to bicycle across town to her home in New Town. “It was knee-deep 60 percent of the time and 40 percent of the time it was to my waist,” she said.

A candy shop in the 100 block of Duval Street tried to fend off the water with sandbags. Some employees had to bike home in water that became waist-high at some points, they said.
A candy shop in the 100 block of Duval Street tried to fend off the water with sandbags. Some employees had to bike home in water that became waist-high at some points, they said.

More than 1,000 power outages were reported in Old Town. Miller said she saw the Keys Energy Services trucks out and about and said they were very careful while driving by her.

“One even turned on extra lights so I could see better,” Miller said.

It isn’t over yet, forecasters said. The chance of rain Sunday was 50 to 60 percent today for the Keys.

Lower Matecumbe Key in the Upper Keys had the highest total in the Keys at 11.99 inches, while Islamorada was hit with 11.98 inches.

Marathon received 8 inches and at Bahia Honda State Park, the NWS recorded 7.20 inches.