TROPICAL Storm Eta has flooded already drenched Florida cities leaving cars stranded and businesses ruined as water rose with no place to drain.
Eta slammed into South Florida on Sunday night bringing high winds and “life-threatening” flash floods to heavily populated areas after making landfall.
Eta, the 28th named storm of the 2020 hurricane season, is being followed by Theta, which formed Monday night – although the storm poses no risk to Florida.
The system’s wide reach and heavy rains posed a serious threat across South Florida, an area already drenched from more than 14 inches of rain last month.
“Never seen this, never, not this deep,” Anthony Lyas told the AP. He’s lived in his now-waterlogged Fort Lauderdale neighborhood since 1996.
After striking Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane and killing nearly 70 people from Mexico to Panama, the storm moved into the Gulf of Mexico early Monday near the Everglades meets the sea with maximum winds of 50mph.
The tropical storm dropped as much as 16 inches of rain damaging one of the state’s largest Covid-19 testing sites – at Miami-Dade County’s Hard Rock Stadium.
Florida, a state that has seen their Covid number rapidly increase over the last several months now has to deal with the after effects of Eta left behind.
Eta hit land late Sunday night and blew over Lower Matecumbe, in the middle of the chain of small islands that form the keys.
However, the heavily populated areas of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties received the worst of the storm.
“In some areas, the water isn’t pumping out as fast as it’s coming in,” warned Miami Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis called Eta, a 100-year rain event, drenching already soaked streets.
“Once the ground becomes saturated, there’s really no place for the water to go,” Trantalis said.
“It’s not like a major hurricane. It’s more of a rain event, and we’re just doing our best to ensure that the people in our community are being protected.”
City officials dispatched 24 tanker trucks with giant vacuums to soak up water from the past few weeks, but many were being pulled off the roads as conditions worsened overnight Sunday.
“Please take this storm seriously,” urged Palm Beach County Emergency Management Director Bill Johnson. “Please don’t drive through flooded roadways.”
In the Florida Keys, the mayor ordered mandatory evacuations for mobile home parks, campgrounds and RV parks and those in low-lying areas.
School districts closed due to already flooded roads as winds were too strong for buses to transport students.
