FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Residents across South Florida saw extensive flooding flooding thanks to heavy rains Friday.
Heavy rains overnight and on Friday morning brought flooded streets and slick roads to both Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
Flooding could be seen in areas like downtown Miami, Cutler Bay, Little Havana, Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale.
“It’s very frustrating. I come out my house, and it’s disgusting,” said Cutler Bay resident Mike Fiallo. “Every time it rains, it gets flooded. If it’s a trash day, trash cans go floating, and it’s disgusting.”
Between the rain, saturated ground and the king tides, sewer drains can’t keep up.
Miami resident Alexandra Zeno said flooding is a constant problem in her neighborhood, near 10th Avenue and 79th Street.
“I woke up around 7, I believe so, and it was already flooded,” she said. “Every time it rains a little bit, it gets this way.”
Further south, in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, residents at a building off Northeast 32nd Street reported that the flooding on the ground floor caused the building to shut down all the elevators for hours.
John Angelas said his friend lives on the 31st floor of the building.
“He had to come down 31 floors to walk the dog and run some errands. A bit of a mission,” Angelas said.
Maintenance crews had to hook up hoses to push the water out.
The elevators have since been repaired and are now operational.
Many cars could be seen driving slowly in an attempt to safely make it through the floodwaters.
“I mean, I can barely get through there. I can’t imagine these smaller cars trying to get through there,” said mail carrier Christian Roig.
Viewer video showed cars stalled in downtown Miami, and 7News cameras captured drivers in the same predicament in Hollywood. Some of the vehicles had to be towed away.
Cameras also captured captured a soggy mess in Fort Lauderdale’s Victoria Park neighborhood.
An area resident said the flooding is a major inconvenience.
“I can’t even get a cup of coffee. It’s ridiculous,” he said. “We always get tired of this. It happens every year.”
But the water in some areas receded eventually. In Victoria Park neighborhood, ankle-deep floodwaters had turned into shallow puddles by late Friday night.
But the relief was only temporary in some parts, as the soggy weather continues to plague the area.
City officials said, in some Cutler Bay neighborhoods, floodwaters will be drained out. However, in some of the older neighborhoods, $11 million will be used over the next year and a half to add drainage to help prevent future flooding.
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