Flash Flood in Broward County, Florida

During the afternoon and evening of April 12th, prolific rainfall occurred across southern and central metro Broward County, including the cities of Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Dania Beach, and Wilton Manors. Showers and thunderstorms repeatedly training over this urban corridor brought multiple hours with rainfall rates of 3-6 inches/hour, with total rainfall of 15-25 inches between Noon and Midnight. The highest measured rainfall amount was 25.91 at a WeatherSTEM gauge at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, with 20 inches falling between 4 and 10 PM. This rainfall rate has less than a 0.1% chance of being exceeded in any given year, and the rainfall over most of the Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood areas has an annual exceedance probability of no more than 0.5%.

This extremely rare rainfall led to devastating impacts and crippled neighborhoods for several days. Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport was closed for nearly 40 hours due to high standing water. Over 1,100 buildings in Fort Lauderdale suffered damage, with 766 having major damage. Fort Lauderdale City Hall sustained major water damage and was considered a complete loss. At least 38,000 cubic yards of debris was collected in Fort Lauderdale. The city of Hollywood Waste Water plant sustained damage. Damage surveys revealed high water marks of over 3 feet inside homes in the Edgewood and Melrose Park neighborhoods of Fort Lauderdale, with 1-2 feet of standing water and high water marks in sections of Dania Beach and Hollywood. About 600 residents were displaced by the flood, with many being rescued from their homes by first responders. 22,000 residents were without power during the peak of the event, with the hardest hit areas remaining without it for days. Port Everglades, which supplies 100% of the fuel for the area (13 million gallons per day), suffered a 50% reduction in distribution due to submerged fuel pumps, with interruptions lasting over 10 days. This led to a fuel shortage across the area, with most South Florida gas stations having to close for days at a time. Nearly one thousand calls were made to local towing companies for abandoned/stranded vehicles in flooded water, with the number of vehicle insurance claims across the area in the thousands.

Damage totals were provided by Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood emergency management officials.

A nearly stationary front began to move slowly northward across South Florida on April 12th, focusing deep moisture over the region. An mid to upper level low pressure over the NW Gulf of Mexico and an upper level jet stream over the eastern Gulf of Mexico contributed to providing the necessary atmospheric forcing for areas of persistent heavy rain and strong thunderstorms across most of SE Florida.