The city’s main hospital was knocked offline for all but emergency procedures. Floodwaters shorted out the electrical equipment and generators at City Hall. And for two days straight, Fort Lauderdale International Airport, one of the nation’s busiest airports was closed, stranding tens of thousands of travelers.
More than a third of the normal annual rainfall in Fort Lauderdale poured down in torrents over 12 hours, triggering what meteorologists called a 1-in-1,000-year flood. Several areas received 20 to 25 inches of rain, including 25.91 inches at the airport, according to the National Weather Service’s Miami office. Even Florida’s frequent brushes with tropical storms and hurricanes have never produced as much rain. Fort Lauderdale’s previous record rainfall for a single day was 14.59 inches, set April 25, 1979; the city averages 3.02 inches of rain during the entire month of April.
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