Five days after the historic flooding in Fort Lauderdale, some roads are still experiencing standing water. NBC6’s Lorena Inclan reports.
Crews were removing water and trash from flooded Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods that were bombarded by historic rainfall in the past week.
Another round of rainfall late Sunday and into early Monday may have increased water levels in some neighborhoods, Fort Lauderdale officials said.
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"Traumatizing for the whole community and we just need help from everybody, anybody," resident Mike King said.
Crews had eight pumping trucks operating citywide, with another 10 on the way, officials said in a statement.
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HISTORIC RAINFALL
At the same time, other crews were working on cleaning and "muck removal" from areas where water receded, officials said.
Debris removal trucks were also rolling through neighborhoods to remove large piles of trash as residents clear out houses that had been flooded.
"You go up Federal Highway and it’s dry and everything’s back to normal but people don’t come back here and see that it’s friggin’ ground zero disaster area," resident Wendy Wills said.
The worst of the wet weather came through Wednesday, with more than 25 inches drenching parts of Fort Lauderdale at one point.
In neighborhoods like Edgewood and Melrose Park, which saw the worst of the flooding, city crews began performing damage assessments at individual homes.
Resident Alexa Westwater said her car was a total loss after the flooding, causing her to miss days of work.
"With everything that’s going on, it does put a big stop to our day-to-day lives, but try your hardest," Westwater said.
Meanwhile, at an apartment complex on Northwest 10th Terrace, police and firefighters responded to a partial roof collapse.
Officials said it was possible standing water on the roof led to the collapse. A child was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries from the scene.
The city continues to operate comfort stations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Shirley Small Park on Southwest 34th Avenue and at the Broward County Fleet Service Center on Southwest 4th Avenue. The Red Cross will be serving lunch and dinner at each location.
The Red Cross location at Provident Park is moving to the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, the city said.
"It is mentally very, very difficult what everyone is going through, imagine being in your home, like my neighbor behind me for over 50 years, and he’s lost everything," Wills said.
FEMA assistance is dependent upon the damage from the flooding reaching a certain threshold, so city officials are asking anyone who had 12 or more inches of water in the interior of their home to call and report it to 954-828-8000.
