Extreme Rainfall Pounds South Florida

Facts

• Storms in South Florida on Wednesday brought widespread flooding to the region, with more rain predicted on the weather forecast. The deluge closed Fort Lauderdale Airport and transformed roadways into rivers.¹
• Local meteorologists called the heavy rainfall a “1-in-1,000-year event or more.'²
• Fort Lauderdale was hit with 25.95 inches (65.91 cm) of rainfall over the last two days with the nearby town of Dania Beach recording 21.42 inches (54.38 cm) in the same period. Hollywood Fla. and South Miami also both received at least 9 inches (22.86 cm) of rain.²
• Fort Lauderdale issued a state of emergency on Thursday, as responders deployed to the incident. No deaths or injuries have been reported.¹
• Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy said the deluge was the most severe flooding he had ever witnessed, and that, 'The ground was already saturated so there is extensive flooding all over our city and throughout South Florida.'³

Sources: ¹Guardian, ²USA Today and ³CBS.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The weather channel. While it is difficult to link any one weather event to climate change, natural disasters like the recent flooding in Southern Florida are occurring more often as the globe warms. Local and national governments need to be more proactive in halting global warming and take steps to protect populations living in areas vulnerable to extreme weather.
• Narrative B, as provided by World meteorological organization. Extreme weather is worrying, but there are very often conflicting messages from scientists about whether these weather events can be linked to climate change. While experts can agree that there has been an increase in the frequency of extreme weather like heatwaves and heavy rainfall, this does not mean that human-induced climate change is to blame for every instance of damaging weather.

Predictions