Fort Lauderdale experienced its rainiest day in history on Wednesday (12). According to authorities, it was a rain that falls once every thousand years.
The rain caused flooding, emergency rescues, forced drivers to abandon cars, closed schools, and shut down the airport. Preliminary reports indicate that the region recorded a total rainfall of over thirty centimeters. Fort Lauderdale, specifically, recorded about 26 inches in a 24-hour period, according to the National Weather Service.
“This amount of rain in a 24-hour period is incredibly rare in South Florida,” said meteorologist Ana Torres-Vazquez from the Miami weather service’s forecasting office to CNN. A precipitation of 20 to 25 inches is similar to what the area might receive from a high-level hurricane over more than a day, Torres-Vazquez added.
Hundreds of Florida residents were housed in emergency shelters in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday night (14), as teams rushed to clear clogged drains and impassable roads.
During the peak of Wednesday’s deluge, a month’s worth of rain fell in just one hour. Fort Lauderdale’s average rainfall in April is 3 inches, and it has been nearly 25 years since the city totaled 20 inches of rain in an entire month.
Extreme rains are a characteristic consequence of a warmer climate and are occurring more frequently. The deluge in South Florida is just the latest example after similar rains occurred last year in areas like Dallas, St. Louis, eastern Kentucky, and Yellowstone.
DeSantis declared a state of emergency for Broward County on Thursday (13).
More storms may hit South Florida this Friday, with some flood warnings remaining in effect.
Source: CNN