Viewers capture extreme weather, road flooding

SUNRISE, FLA. (WSVN) - Rainy weather caused a headache for residents all throughout South Florida with large amount of rainfall that flooded several roadways.

With no immediate end in sight, Mother Nature continues to pour down in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Wednesday.

The areas north of Fort Lauderdale to the county line, and from the beaches to western suburbs are under a street flood advisory until 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, and a flood watch is in effect for Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties until 8 p.m., Wednesday.

Several cars were submerged under water at the Sawgrass Mills Mall parking lot in Sunrise, leaving motorists stranded, and the on and off rain created rivers in the roadway.

7News spoke with a tow truck driver, who said he alone towed over 20 cars from the mall between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Sunrise Police said due to the heavy flooding, the Sawgrass Mills Mall will be closed Wednesday.

“We never get water like this,” said Manoutie Jackasl. “Rainfall, but we never have water like this.”

In Davie, the South Florida Water Management District has pumps working overtime, trying to alleviate flooding in several neighborhoods.

People in one neighborhood off Vista Felari were forced to leave their cars at the entrance and walk home. Kids even seen bringing out their canoes.

A fifth grader at Parkside Elementary School waded through the high water in Coral Springs just to get to his school’s dance.

The high flood waters are also pushing wildlife into roads and residential areas.

“Who knew you could catch shrimp right in your front yard. Salud,” said one resident.

The shrimp are tame compared to other residents’ sightings of alligators and snakes in Davie.

At the Regency Gardens apartments in Pompano Beach catfish were spotted swimming through lawns and walkways.

Also in Davie, fish swam by the sidewalk and into the parking lot of an apartment complex.

Streets surrounding Mary Brickell Village were also submerged.

In Sunrise, crews have been working since early Wednesday morning to remove flood water from the streets.

An Exxon gas station near Southwest 130th Avenue was shutdown while employees tried their best to keep rising water out of the tanks. “In reality, this is money,” said an employee. “That’s money and we have to pay the rent, pay the taxes, we have to pay the tools to pump the water out.”

In Sunrise, in the area of Sunset Strip and Nob Hill Road, the flooding is as bad as some have ever seen it.

“We’ve been here over 25 years,” said one resident, “and this is only the second time I’ve seen this street like this and not quite this amount of water, so that’s just an indication of how much liquid has fallen in two days.”

According to the National Weather Service, Fort Lauderdale set a record for rainfall Tuesday with over two and three-fourths inches of rain. The old record, set back in 1926, was just under two inches.

According to Florida Power and Light, as of 12 p.m., Wednesday, 350 Broward residents and 299 Miami-Dade residents were without power.

Officials at the Keiser University Miami campus announced they would be closed, Wednesday, due to the power outage. However, as of 10:30 a.m., they have reopened.

The National Weather Service confirmed that there was evidence that an EF-0 tornado touched down near the intersection of Sheridan Street and Flamingo Road in Hollywood, Tuesday.

Broward Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Mike Jachles also tweeted about a downed power line in West Park, along with images of a kitten that hid under the hood of a truck in order to get away from the wet weather.

One man in West Park described what he heard when the power line went down. “Sounded like a ‘Boom!’ It scared the daylights out of me,” he said.

When asked if he thought it was a lightning strike, he responded, “It had to be, yeah, to knock that branch down.”

Meteorologists expect the rain to continue well into the weekend.

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