MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Residents across South Florida have begun preparations after news of heavy rain heading their way.
All of South Florida is dealing with heavy rainfall and flooded roadways. The downpour began just before the rush hour commute, Thursday, causing major slow downs for drivers.
Related: Weather Radar | Watches and Warnings | Video Forecast
In Sunset Harbour, residents have just recently recovered from rainfall that flooded much of the area at the beginning of August. Miami Beach Public Works have been hard at work, prepping pumping stations for possible street flooding.
Rami, the owner of I95 Exotics in Miami Beach said he was cleaning up just weeks after the last storm. “It was pouring water everywhere cause they raised the streets, so ours, on elevation, and the pumps were not working,” he said. “There were no generators.”
Employees with the paddleboard and Jet Ski company posted a video with their equipment floating on the water. “We were laughing, joking around, that’s it,” Rami said. “The power was out, everything was out. We had at least a foot of water inside the office, so we were just paddleboarding inside the office.”
Early Thursday morning, commuters were not able to avoid slow traffic due to heavy rainfall. On Interstate 95, traffic cameras showed plenty of stop-and-go traffic, including a couple of crashes.
People were seen wading through water in Wynwood and residents also had to deal with flooding water in Brickell.
Pumps in Northwest Miami-Dade and Miami Shores, however, have already begun working to alleviate flooding.
“We’ve rolled out 18 temporary generators to our 18 most effective pump stations city-wide,” said Miami Beach Public Works Director Eric Carpenter, “so if the power does go off again, we can have the power back up and running immediately.”
Back in Miami Beach, the area began to flood, but business owners said they’re prepared this time around. TKS Miami employee Alex Martinez remembers how bad flooding was earlier in the month.
“It was literally flooded up to here,” said Martinez. “It was insane.”
TKS Miami was hit with about half a foot of water and has already placed down sandbags to prevent flooding from happening again.
One Miami Beach resident said that he’s used to even worse weather conditions. “This is nothing,” said Dipesh Akria. “I’m from London, and at least it’s warm, and you dry off in seconds, so really, it’s only a bit of water.”
Public Works employees continue to work on the pumps to prevent yet another messy situation. “We’ve got all hands on deck,” Carpenter said. “[We’re] making sure that we’re as ready as we can possibly be, and we’re hoping that Mother Nature is kind to us.”
Public Works plans to be out on scene all day long to make sure the extra generators and pumps work throughout the day.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.