Officials in Broward and Miami-Dade counties are assessing the impacts of a weekend tropical system that brought torrential rainfall to South Florida, leading to significant flooding that put local infrastructure to the test.
South Florida Water Management District spokesperson Randy Smith said while canals and pump stations performed “extremely well,” some areas were simply “overpowered” by the deluge of rain.
“Nobody’s flood control system is ever designed to be able to successfully keep out 13 inches of rain in just a few hours,” Smith said.
Broward
Certain areas of Broward County got more than a foot of rainfall, including Hollywood, where officials said most flooding took place in areas familiar with inundated streets.
“With 14 inches of rain Hollywood definitely felt some of the impacts from this storm but we fared pretty well here,” Hollywood city spokesperson Joann Hussey said. “There was street-level flooding seen in Hollywood in the low-lying areas that are prone to flooding. It’s about 12 inches above sea level so these areas do typically flood.”
Pompano Beach officials also reported flooding as well as damage to buildings.
“We had a lot of leaking, some leaking of city buildings, we had a tree down on a house, we had various flooding events, which activated utilities to go out and start pumping that water out,” Pompano Beach city spokesperson Sandra King said.
As in Hollywood, flooding was concentrated in familiar areas.
“It’s always the same areas. You know at any afternoon storm during the summer it floods,” King said. “You know those areas are going to flood.”
King and Hussey said leaders in their cities view the storm as a test run for their utilities and emergency operations staff as the hurricane season begins.
“Improvements can always be made and we always have a post-storm meeting to look and see what went right, what went wrong, and where we can improve,” Hussey said.
Miami-Dade
In Miami-Dade County, numerous communities, including the city of Miami, saw severe flooding.
A woman cleaning up her home, who did not wish to give her name, described the damage.
“My neighbors, they lost everything! Everything!” she said.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez spent part of his Monday touring some of the most flood-prone areas in the city’s Allapattah neighborhood.
The city is looking at a $50 million fix to get flooding under control in the low-lying area.
“This needs two pumps, which are a high capital expense,” Suarez said.
Suarez said the city’s first pump truck flooded over the weekend, requiring the city to put a second truck in.
Over in the downtown area, a solution to complaints about water getting into Biscayne Bay turned out to be a problem when it came to flooding.
“What (the Florida Department of Transportation) did was they actually put something to prevent the water from outflowing, the problem with that is it keeps all the water inside, which creates flooding on the inside,” Suarez said. “So you sort of solve one problem but create another problem.”
The city is now working with FDOT to fix that issue, officials said.
It is also now planning to connect a pump near the Publix at Mary Brickell Village, which saw some of the worst flooding, to a larger pump nearby that they hope will have enough capacity to keep the area dry.
Across South Florida, Smith said pumping stations continue to operate 24 hours a day to clear the rest of the water over the next few days.
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South Florida Water Management District spokesperson Randy Smith said while canals and pump stations performed “extremely well,” some areas were simply “overpowered” by the deluge of rain.
“Nobody’s flood control system is ever designed to be able to successfully keep out 13 inches of rain in just a few hours,” Smith said.
Broward
Certain areas of Broward County got more than a foot of rainfall, including Hollywood, where officials said most flooding took place in areas familiar with inundated streets.
“With 14 inches of rain Hollywood definitely felt some of the impacts from this storm but we fared pretty well here,” Hollywood city spokesperson Joann Hussey said. “There was street-level flooding seen in Hollywood in the low-lying areas that are prone to flooding. It’s about 12 inches above sea level so these areas do typically flood.”
Pompano Beach officials also reported flooding as well as damage to buildings.
“We had a lot of leaking, some leaking of city buildings, we had a tree down on a house, we had various flooding events, which activated utilities to go out and start pumping that water out,” Pompano Beach city spokesperson Sandra King said.
As in Hollywood, flooding was concentrated in familiar areas.
“It’s always the same areas. You know at any afternoon storm during the summer it floods,” King said. “You know those areas are going to flood.”
King and Hussey said leaders in their cities view the storm as a test run for their utilities and emergency operations staff as the hurricane season begins.
“Improvements can always be made and we always have a post-storm meeting to look and see what went right, what went wrong, and where we can improve,” Hussey said.
Miami-Dade
In Miami-Dade County, numerous communities, including the city of Miami, saw severe flooding.
A woman cleaning up her home, who did not wish to give her name, described the damage.
“My neighbors, they lost everything! Everything!” she said.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez spent part of his Monday touring some of the most flood-prone areas in the city’s Allapattah neighborhood.
The city is looking at a $50 million fix to get flooding under control in the low-lying area.
“This needs two pumps, which are a high capital expense,” Suarez said.
Suarez said the city’s first pump truck flooded over the weekend, requiring the city to put a second truck in.
Over in the downtown area, a solution to complaints about water getting into Biscayne Bay turned out to be a problem when it came to flooding.
“What (the Florida Department of Transportation) did was they actually put something to prevent the water from outflowing, the problem with that is it keeps all the water inside, which creates flooding on the inside,” Suarez said. “So you sort of solve one problem but create another problem.”
The city is now working with FDOT to fix that issue, officials said.
It is also now planning to connect a pump near the Publix at Mary Brickell Village, which saw some of the worst flooding, to a larger pump nearby that they hope will have enough capacity to keep the area dry.
Across South Florida, Smith said pumping stations continue to operate 24 hours a day to clear the rest of the water over the next few days.
Continue reading...