FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Officials in Broward County are taking action to help frustrated residents who are still dealing with a flood of trouble in the aftermath of severe weather, as the region braces for another round of rain later this weekend.
7News cameras captured Lauderhill residents picking up sandbags in the parking lot of Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, late Saturday afternoon.
“I’m preparing for the storm,” said a resident.
The sandbag distribution, organized by the city, was free.
“Our street was completely covered,” said Lauderhill resident Patricia West about this week’s historic flooding. “The times we’re in, you don’t know what to expect.”
Meanwhile, in Fort Lauderdale, streets were still swamped.
“The house is completely destroyed right now,” said resident Marlies Perez.
Homes in the city’s Edgewood section are still drying out from the flooding caused by severe weather that swept through South Florida earlier in the week.
“The water rose up to 4 feet inside the house, and everything that’s inside the house is wet, mold is growing,” said Perez.
Not far away, resident Alexandra Keshan’s home was still surrounded by water.
“It’s just a nightmare,” she said.
Keshan said her apartment was also flooded, and now she and her neighbors have been forced to evacuate.
“I’m putting some stuff that I’m trying to salvage into a storage unit and just deciding where to live next, so I’m homeless,” she said.
Speaking at a news conference, Fort Lauderdale city leaders says their crews are working around the clock to drain the drenched areas.
“We now have 36 vacuum or pump trucks that have been deployed across the city,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis. “With continuous pumping, this will be mitigated within the next 24 hours.”
Crews were out doing the same thing in Dania Beach, where some roads are still closed due to the inches of standing water.
Fort Lauderdale is hosting two sandbag distributions beginning Sunday morning. For more information, click here.
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