In a 1-in-1,000-year rainfall event, Fort Lauderdale suffered its wettest day on Wednesday. This precipitation event sparked a flash flood emergency in Broward County, which has resulted in emergency rescues, forced drivers to abandon their cars, closed schools, and closed the airport until 9 a.m. on Friday. Additionally, additional rain is falling. According to early reports from the National Weather Service office in Miami, the area saw widespread rainfall totals of more than a foot, with Fort Lauderdale recording 25.91 inches in a 24-hour period.
According to the Miami National Weather Service, two minor tornadoes also struck Broward County on Wednesday, one about west of Hollywood and the other south of the Fort Lauderdale airport. Both had a rating of EF-0, the lowest possible, and were short-lived.
A Thursday morning update from the National Weather Service office in Miami stated that since Wednesday afternoon, the greater Fort Lauderdale metro region had received between 14 and 20 inches of rain. One mayor described the disaster as the “most severe flooding I’ve ever seen.”
The meteorological service’s Miami forecast office meteorologist Ana Torres-Vazquez noted that this quantity of rain in a day is extremely unusual for South Florida.
According to Torres-Vazquez, a 20 to 25-inch rainfall is comparable to what the area may see from a high-end hurricane over more than a day. She referred to the downpour as a “1-in-1,000 year event, or greater,” which means that there is only a 0.1% chance it will occur in any given year.