Ron DeSantis

State agencies assisting in response to storms in South Florida: DeSantis

Hollywood is one of the areas that has seen the most rain across the area, having totaled 19.10 inches by Thursday morning

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Dozens of vehicles were abandoned across Hollywood Wednesday night after stalling out in flood waters.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said state agencies are assisting local authorities in the response to this week's severe weather that left South Florida drenched in floodwaters.

DeSantis held a news conference at a Hollywood Fire Rescue station Friday morning after receiving a briefing on the response.

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More than a foot and a half of rainfall has fallen in some areas of South Florida since Tuesday, causing widespread flooding that has left streets underwater and caused major damage to homes and cars.

"We had a very very dry spell, you look like the Everglades was really parched, there had not been much, and so the area held a lot of it but it just was so much inundation in such a short period of time that you ended up having this," DeSantis said.

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DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Wednesday for Miami-Dade, Broward and other Florida counties due to the heavy rain that inundated the area.

The downpours hit Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, delaying flights at two of the state’s largest airports and leaving vehicles waterlogged and stalled in some of the region’s lowest-lying streets. 

Hollywood is one of the areas that has seen the most rain across the area, having totaled 19.10 inches by Thursday morning. 

DeSantis said conditions had improved but there was still standing water in some areas.

"Obviously the water has receded a lot compared to where it was and the worst of it," he said.

The governor was also asked about what sort of help homeowners can expect. Emergency officials said there would need to be about 1,000 homes with major damage and we’re nowhere near that. Crews are still assessing but currently about 100 homes in Hollywood were affected and there haven't been any reports of destroyed homes in Broward County yet.

"We don’t think there’s going to be enough damage to necessarily qualify for a federal disaster declaration but there may be enough damage with small businesses because the threshold is different where we can unlock some assistance for small businesses," he said.

The National Weather Service cautioned that even smaller amounts of precipitation could impact saturated areas, causing flash floods on Friday before the region has a chance to recover.

DeSantis said multiple state agencies were prepared to assist with any additional rainfall, and said the state has around 90 waters pumps that were either in use or available.

"I told everybody, we definitely have to make sure on Saturday night the streets are good so everyone can celebrate the Florida Panthers winning the Stanley Cup," DeSantis said.

See what’s in the Friday forecast here. 

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.

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