A tropical disturbance brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of South Florida as residents braced for heavier rain Thursday and Friday.
Wednesday’s rains and subsequent flooding blocked roads, floated vehicles and delayed the Florida Panthers’ route to their Stanley Cup games in Canada against the Edmonton Oilers.
The disorganized storm system was moving across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico at about the same time as the start of the hurricane season in early June, which this year is predicted to be among the most active in recent memory, amid concerns that climate change is increasing the intensity of storms.
The disturbance did not reach cyclone status and had only a small chance of forming into a tropical system once it emerged into the Atlantic Ocean after crossing Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.
“Regardless of development, heavy rainfall is expected to continue across portions of the Florida peninsula over the next several days,” the hurricane center posted on its website Wednesday.
Numerous roads were flooded and impassable for vehicles. On the main artery Interstate 95 in Broward County, southbound traffic was being diverted onto a flooded stretch and contractors were on their way to pump out the drainage system, the Florida Highway Patrol said in an email. The interstate would not reopen until the water was drained, the agency said.
Miami’s weather service office issued increasingly dire warnings.
“Life-threatening flooding is ongoing,” the service said on social media platform X. “Please stay off the roads and move to higher ground.”
The mayors of Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood declared states of emergency for their cities on Wednesday afternoon. Later on Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also declared a state of emergency for five counties – Broward and Miami-Dade on Florida’s Atlantic coast, and Collier, Lee and Sarasota counties on Florida’s west coast. state.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava also issued a local state of emergency.
In nearby Hollywood, Mike Viesel was walking home Wednesday afternoon with his dog Humi when he was caught in deep flooding along a low-lying street, he told the Miami Herald.
As he slowed down and stopped, Viesel said other cars passed him, dumping even more water on his vehicle. His engine died.
“I would get out of my car,” he told the Herald, but his dog “has water issues.”
In Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, the lobby of the building Alfredo Rodriguez moved into a year ago already had puddles of water inside on Wednesday morning. He told the Herald the building has flooded five times since he moved in.
“This is horrible. I can’t stop my car,” he said of the flooded streets.
Dozens of flights were delayed or canceled at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The NHL’s Florida Panthers were delayed more than three hours from departing Fort Lauderdale for their nearly six-hour flight to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Further north, the National Weather Service in Melbourne confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down in Hobe Sound on Florida’s Atlantic coast, north of West Palm Beach, on Wednesday morning.
The winds toppled several fig trees and caused some damage to a store, Martin County Fire Rescue officials said. There were no reports of injuries, but access to resource-rich Jupiter Island was cut off by road debris.
It’s already been a rainy and stormy week in Florida. In Miami, about 6 inches of rain fell Tuesday and 7 inches in Miami Beach, according to the National Weather Service. Hollywood got about 12 centimeters.
Bryan McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School, noted on X that about 9 inches fell in parts of South Florida from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, in addition to the rain that fell on Tuesday. .
“We are in trouble,” McNoldy wrote.
More rain was forecast for the rest of the week, prompting the weather office in Miami to extend the flood warning until Thursday. Some places could see another 15 centimeters of rain.
The west side of the state, much of which is in a prolonged drought, there were also heavy rains. Nearly 6 inches of rain fell Tuesday at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, the weather service says, and flood warnings were also in effect in those areas.
Forecasts call for an exceptionally busy hurricane season.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates there is an 85% probability that the Atlantic hurricane season will be above average, predicting between 17 and 25 named storms in the coming months, including up to 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes. An average season has 14 named storms.
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Associated Press Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in Edmonton, Canada, and Freida Frisaro in Cooper City, Florida, contributed to this story.
