Fort Lauderdale and Environs Drying Out After Historic Rainfall

Posted: April 14, 2023 11:58 am

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South Florida is recovering from record rainfall this week, bringing life to a standstill for many communities in the normally sunny area. Here is the latest on what this storm system inflicted upon the Sunshine State.

Over 25 Inches of Rain Recorded in One Day in Fort Lauderdale

Officials declared a state of emergency in Fort Lauderdale after over 25 inches of rain fell on the city in a 24-hour time period on Wednesday. Fort Lauderdale Airport was forced to close all day Thursday, finally reopening early Friday to travelers.

Roadways were turned into rushing rivers as the storm system stalled out over South Florida during the middle of the week. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood emergency as the rain fell in droves.

After a slight break during the day Thursday, another flash flood warning was set in place for eastern Broward County during the evening hours. In addition to the heavy rain, dangerous lightning continued to flash across the city and its suburbs as the sun went down.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis updated residents on Thursday, detailing that many areas of the community were still underwater as crews worked to help stranded motorists. Broward County Public Schools also remained closed on Thursday due to the unprecedented amounts of rainfall.

Taking a Closer Look at the Rainfall Totals

There were a number of eye-popping rainfall totals over just 24 hours in South Florida. Fort Lauderdale led the list with 25.91 inches of rain. Hollywood recorded 18.16 inches while Dania Beach came in at 17.30 inches of rain. The bulk of the rainfall came over a period just eight hours.

The NWS still needs to confirm the reported rainfall totals. However, if the 25.91 inches reported in Fort Lauderdale is made official, it will shatter the previous record for the greatest amount of rain to ever fall in the state over 24 hours. The current record belongs to Key West when it recorded 23.28 inches of rain in November of 1980.

The timing of this rainfall was most surprising to residents. April is still within what is considered to be the dry season for South Florida. Fort Lauderdale typically sees 3.70 inches of rain for the entire month. That amount of rain fell in just one hour in parts of the city on Wednesday.

Some reports are claiming that 1.5 inches of rain fell in only 10 minutes. Should this be officially confirmed, it would come close to breaking the all-time record for most rain in that time period across the U.S. Forecasters have been expressing disbelief that this amount of rain fell outside of a hurricane landfall.

A tornado warning was issued for an area north of Miami on Wednesday afternoon. Radar showed a twister moving to the northwest with a second funnel spotted a short time later in Hollywood.

While the Florida peninsula will finally see some relief by the weekend, the rain is going to move into Georgia and the Carolinas instead. This will make for a soggy weekend for this corner of the nation on the heels of a warm and dry week.

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