Flood in Coastal Dade, Florida

On October 2 and 3, 2000 a broad area of low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico off the southwest Florida coast moved northeast across central florida and eventually became subtropical depression number 1 then tropical storm Leslie off of the northeast Florida coast. A band of heavy rain along its southern flank became nearly stationary across southeast Florida and produced a 10-mile wide swath of 10 to 20 inches of rain in Miami-Dade and extreme southeast Broward counties. The swath was centered from Golden Beach to Opa Locka to Miami Springs to Sweetwater to West Kendall. About 2 to 3 inches of the rain fell on October 2 and another 12 inches fell during the late afternoon and evening of October 3. Flooding of poorly drained urban areas quickly followed during the evening of October 3 and lasted into midday October 4. Some flood waters lingered for up to a week. Flood damage was particularly severe in the communities of Sweetwater, West Miami, Hialeah, Opa Locka and Pembroke Park.An estimated 93000 houses with about 214000 persons were isolated by flood waters. Power was cut to 13000 people. There were three indirect deaths including two males who drove vehicles into canals and one man who fell from a roof while reparing a leak.