Miami, Apr 15 (EFE).- Southeast Florida continues this Saturday with the recovery tasks following the torrential rains that fell this week, classified as an event that occurs every thousand years, and with the extraction of stagnant water in certain areas such as main focus of local authorities.
As announced today at a press conference by the executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), Kevin Guthrie, the rescue teams continue to assist residents whose homes have been flooded following rains. that started last Sunday, especially in Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods.
Guthrie added that more than 600 calls for help have been received in the Edgewood area of this city, some 40 kilometers north of Miami alone, and that teams from state agencies have rescued hundreds of families from their houses filled with water by the downpours fell through Friday.
He added that in various parts of Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach, both in Broward County, there are still parts with 18 inches (46 centimeters) or more of standing water from flooding, which has not caused fatalities.
The official added that rescue teams have deployed pumps to remove excess water, while the city said in a statement that they have deployed 34 pump trucks for these tasks.
The Fort Lauderdale authorities pointed out that during the rainfall on Wednesday, when the peak of the rains occurred, the equivalent of a month’s rain was recorded in only one hour.
According to preliminary estimates, the 24-hour rainfall in this southern city on Wednesday set a new Florida record of 25.91 inches (0.65 meters). The previous record was 23.28 inches (0.59 meters) and was broken in 1980 in Key West, in the Florida Keys.
The fuel supply, which is in short supply in parts of Broward, is also on the way to normal, according to the mayor of this county, Lamar Fisher.
The official said late Friday that “there is an adequate supply of fuel in storage, with several tankers in port and offshore waiting to unload more fuel.”
During Wednesday, the fuel companies had problems distributing to the different local gas stations in view of the flooding that affected Port Everglades.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), one of the busiest airports in Florida, handling more than 31 million passengers in 2022, resumed operations Friday morning following being disrupted Wednesday followingnoon due to the floods.
As seen in photos and video taken Thursday, the storm that hit Fort Lauderdale the previous day flooded the runways and other outdoor areas of the airport, including the road leading to the arrivals area, as it did many other transportation routes. that city.
Aerial images released by local media showed entire neighborhoods flooded, with people trapped in their homes and thousands of vehicles stranded throughout the city.
Broward public schools remained closed and classes were suspended Thursday and Friday due to the storm, but they are expected to reopen Monday, although some will partially reopen.
(c) EFE Agency
