US: Fort Lauderdale is drenched with up to two feet of rain, shutting its airport

Thunderstorms that pummeled Fort Lauderdale and other parts of southeastern Florida with up to two feet of rain continued on Thursday after heavy rain the day before trapped motorists in floodwaters and left travelers stranded inside a shuttered airport. Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, on Thursday afternoon and advised residents in flooded areas to stay away from the waters. The Fort Lauderdale airport, which closed Wednesday evening, remained shut down, and flights were not expected to resume until 5 a.m. on Friday because of debris and water on the runways. Storms are a way of life in South Florida, but more than 25 inches of rain fell at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport over a 24-hour period, according to a preliminary estimate released by the National Weather Service. If confirmed, the rainfall total would smash Fort Lauderdale’s one-day record of 14.59 inches, which was set on April 25, 1979. The city, which lies in Broward County on Florida’s Atlantic coast, is one of the largest in the state. “What we are seeing here is a thousand-year incident,” Mayor Dean Trantalis of Fort Lauderdale said at a news conference. “No city could have planned for this.” He said every part of the city had been affected. “This was a very rare event,” he said. <br/>