The South Florida city of Fort Lauderdale was still recovering Monday from flooding triggered by heavy rains that dumped about 26 inches of precipitation last week, paralyzing activities and forcing the airport to close for nearly two days.
Forecasters described the storm as a historic event with a 1 in 1,000 chance of occurrence in any given year.
The Fort Lauderdale airport was closed from Wednesday night through Friday morning, and hundreds of flights had to be cancelled.
Although the rains affected most of South Florida, the Fort Lauderdale area of two million people suffered the worst of the rains and flooding.
Videos and photographs that circulated on social networks showed the streets and highways flooded with water, with cars almost floating, and the airport runway turned into a veritable lake.
The airport reopened at 9 a.m. Friday, but after hundreds of cancellations and delays, flying out of the airport was difficult all weekend.
Many residents whose homes were flooded were not knowing where to turn and were waiting for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for assistance, South Florida television channels reported.
ABC’s Channel 10 reported on Sunday a gasoline shortage in the area caused by difficulties filling gas stations amid flooded streets and highways and in the Port Everglades Harbor area.
However, the authorities hoped to overcome those problems for this Monday.
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