Fort Lauderdale has seen its fair share of heavy rain, but certainly not like this! The city experienced the rainiest day in its history on Wednesday, April 12th.
According to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service in Miami, an astounding 25.91 inches of rain (more than 2 feet) fell in the region in a 24-hour period. This is a first for the city, even breaking the previous record that stood at 14.59 inches back in 1979!
Hollywood also received 18 inches of rain while Dania Beach got 17. Parts of Plantation received 15 inches of rainfall while Lauderhill had over 14.
CNN reported Fort Lauderdale’s historic deluge as a “1-in-1,000-year rainfall event,” quoting Ana Torres-Vazquez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Miami office. The news outlet added that during the peak of Wednesday’s rainfall, a month’s worth of rain fell in just one hour. The average rainfall for the city in April is 3 inches and it’s been nearly 25 years since the city totaled 20 inches of rain in an entire month.
“This amount of rain in a 24-hour period is incredibly rare for South Florida,” Torres-Vazquez said.
A State of Emergency has been issued for both Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach. Metro and coastal Miami-Dade and Broward also remain under a flood watch until 8 p.m. Thursday.
“Large parts of the city have been underwater because of the unprecedented amount of rainfall,” FTL Mayor Dean Trantalis wrote in an update posted to Facebook. “I give my heartfelt thanks to the police officers, firefighters, public works employees and other city staffers that worked hard through the storm.”
The storm not only caused severe floods and tornado warnings, it forced the shutdown of Broward County Public Schools and the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport through at least Friday.
As of now, South Florida could be on track to more rainfall. Forecasters predict that the same region could see more flooding Thursday night, with possible heavy rains.
Guess we’ll have to wait and see what Mother Nature has in store. In the meantime, stay safe South Florida!