FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Fort Lauderdale officials are on a mission to drain out the issues of the city’s flood-prone communities, months after historic flooding impacted the region.
7News cameras on April 13 captured standing water in Fort Lauderdale’s Melrose Park neighborhood a day after downpours swept across Broward County.
More than two dozen inches of rain fell in a matter of hours, leaving much of the city and other parts of the county underwater.
Many residents were forced to leave their homes. Some put their belongings in canoes.
“This past April taught us a lesson, that even though it was a once-in-a-thousand-year storm — 26 inches in five hours — no community has ever suffered that anywhere in the history of the country,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis.
Wednesday night, in his state of the city speech, Trantalis will outline his plan to help prevent flooding in the future.
It’s a 10-year plan that will cost $500 million dollars, to protect some of the city’s lowest lying areas.
“We owe it to our community to respond and respond quickly,” said Trantalis.
The idea is to pump more water out of neighborhoods and create integrated underground systems that can protect people’s property.
However, the mayor admits nothing would have helped the hardest hit neighborhoods in April.
“So, 26 inches in five hours, no system can accommodate that, but we’re going to do our best,” he said. “We’re going to get there, we’re going to at least have a system in place.”
Those affected will never forget that April day.
“There was about four feet of water in the houses. It was above the couches, it was above the beds,” said a Fort Lauderdale resident.
The hope going forward is that maybe someday a major rain event won’t be so memorable.
“The trouble is, somebody has to die, or some catastrophe has to go before somebody says, ‘Oops,'” said Fort Lauderdale resident Joe Kellermey, “Yeah, let’s go spend some money.”
Trantalis said the city plans to use state and federal money, as well as General Fund and taxpayer money, over the next 10 years.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.