Schools, courts, rail routes shut as torrential rain deluges southern Florida
Florida's Governor, Ron DeSantis, on Friday declared an emergency after heavy rain lashed parts of the state. The emergency was announced for Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade, and Sarasota.
Subsequently, the mayors of Miami-Dade, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale also proclaimed an emergency, which resulted in the closure of public schools, courts, and even Dania Beach's city hall.
Rail routes in and around Miami were shut down, while several southern Florida cities were flooded after more than 20 inches of rain poured across.
While North Miami recorded the highest amount of rain, more than 500 mm, a storm in Sarasota on Tuesday evening brought nearly 100 mm of rain in just an hour, which, according to the senior weather producer at CBS News, David Parkinson, was a record for the area.
Additional rain could trigger floods in isolated areas of Florida. However, experts said on Friday that persistent storms that brought up to 20 inches of rain to the southern part of Florida seem to be over now. Some areas in Miami and Fort Lauderdale still have standing water, although rapidly reducing, the officials said.
The National Weather Service has predicted that the threat of heavy rain is expected to slowly decline over the next few days. However, the forecasters warned that the continuous showers are likely to stir up problems.
The no-name storm system moved across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico at around the same time as the hurricane season was starting in early June, which, as per the forecasts, is one of the most active in recent memory amid concerns that climate change is escalating the storm's intensity.
Briefing the media, Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis said that additional rain was expected over the state. "Hopefully it’s not approaching the levels that it was, but we have a lot of resources staged here, and we’ll be able to offer the state’s assistance,” he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
Amid flood concerns, it was expected that the T20 World Cup 2024's match between India and Canada on Saturday will be affected. As the rain lashed Florida for the past few days, the wet patches on the ground were not cleared by Friday afternoon.
