The city of Fort Lauderdale has been overrun by extreme flooding in the past week, as more than two feet of rainfall fell all over the South of Florida, causing the area to issue a state of emergency. As vehicles float down ruined roads and individuals escape houses overrun with water, even the airport was forced to close after huge amounts of water seeped onto runways, preventing planes from taking off. Ever since the heaviest down pour that took place last Wednesday, the Red Cross have been setting up staging areas for residents who have been left without homes.
Individuals have been filmed swimming around flooded neighbourhoods, as roads have become entirely undrivable, and are being closed off for further notice. The entire Fort Lauderdale community is really feeling the hit of the floods as schools have closed their doors due to being overrun with water, alongside the local village hall that has been seriously impacted by the heavy rain fall. The floods also temporarily suspended the rail service, putting Fort Lauderdale into an entire travel stand still. As a month’s worth of rain water fell onto Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, 25.92 inches of precipitation emerged over a twenty-four-hour period, an incredibly rare feat in South Florida.
Fears have grown over the number of casualties the flood has taken as there have been no reports of death so far. Parents feared for their children when the flooding first hit, as the fire department was summoned to schools where parents were being trapped in their cars in chest-high water. Despite already investing in flood risk reduction projects, individuals, governors and majors are being encouraged to work together to build stronger protection and set out plans that ‘futureproof’ the community from flooding in the future. Moreover, there will be detrimental effects on the environment due to the flooding, including the damaging of vegetation, the erosion of soil and banks, alongside the disruption of habitats for animals.
The floods do not come as a surprise as it was estimated this year, that Fort Lauderdale was to experience a moderate risk of flooding in the next thirty years, alongside there being a 26% chance of affecting 23,586 properties in the community. There are currently eight known adaption measures in place that will go on to limit damage of future flooding, and lower flood insurance costs. Although flooding was to be expected, the extreme extent to which it has hit the Fort Lauderdale community was completely unexpected and unprecedented.
Heavy rainfall comes as a consequence of a changing environment, with a warmer atmosphere triggering an increase in evaporation, signalling more water available when it rains. The air can hold 7% more water vapour for every one-degree Celsius rise in temperature, meaning when the air rapidly cools the vapour turns into droplets, making up the heavy rainfall.
Edited By Aminat Akintobi
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