North Miami and Hallandale streets flood after a week of heavy South Florida rain

Standing floodwater still surrounded parts of a North Miami neighborhood hours after Wednesday morning’s heavy rain, Local 10 reported. Residents along Northeast 141st Street off Memorial Highway described side streets covered in water, stalled vehicles, and people unable to leave for work. In Hallandale Beach, drivers and pedestrians navigated ponded side streets while Federal Highway stayed relatively clearer; some parents carried children through water to reach school buses.

Preliminary National Weather Service data cited by the Miami Herald put five-day rainfall near 10 inches in North Miami Beach and Lighthouse Point in Broward. NWS Miami chief meteorologist Sammy Hadi said the office issued street-flood advisories and a flash flood warning Wednesday morning in Broward, with the hardest-hit corridors including Fort Lauderdale, North Miami, and Homestead. Hadi said NWS had reports of flooded streets and cars but had not seen water getting into structures. Fort Lauderdale deployed stormwater pumps and vactor trucks; a city spokesperson said recent drainage upgrades in neighborhoods hit hard in 2023 are showing positive results.

Multiple Broward cities also reported rain overwhelming sanitary sewers. The Miami Herald noted a Lighthouse Point sewage overflow Monday and two Wilton Manors overflows after a short burst of about 3.5 inches earlier in the week, with untreated sewage reaching storm drains and the Middle River. CBS Miami said overnight radar estimates of 3 to 4 inches along the northern Miami-Dade to southern Broward coast prompted flood advisories, with drier conditions expected later in the week.

Atlantic tropics remain distant from Florida. The National Hurricane Center’s 2:00 p.m. EDT Tropical Weather Outlook monitors a low a couple of hundred miles southwest of western Africa (AL90) with medium formation chances (50 percent through 48 hours and seven days), and remnants of former Tropical Storm Fay southwest of the Azores with high chances of regenerating into a tropical depression (70 percent). Neither system is a Florida land threat. Eastern Pacific Hurricane Polo continues to affect southwestern Mexico with tropical-storm warnings there — not the U.S. East Coast.

If floodwater has entered a home or business, prompt extraction and drying limit secondary damage in Florida humidity. Florida Restoration Specialists serves Central Florida water damage calls — water damage restoration and water extraction — or call (863) 588-6617.

Sources: Local 10: Heavy rain floods neighborhoods across Miami-Dade, Broward (updated Sept. 23), Miami Herald: Heavy deluge swamps South Florida roads and overflows sewage systems (Sept. 23), CBS Miami: Dry conditions after wet, stormy night (Sept. 23), NHC Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook (2:00 p.m. EDT Sept. 23), NHC home / Polo advisories.