Travel resumed Friday at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in soggy South Florida after heavy rainfall and flooding drenched the coastal area with several inches in a matter of hours this week.
The airport reopened Friday morning. The normally busy airport had shut down and canceled hundreds of flights Wednesday and Thursday as downpours turned its runways and access roads into rivers.
Airport officials advised travelers to check with their airlines before heading to the airport, which is one of Florida’s busiest.
The stormy conditions knocked the Fort Lauderdale airport’s National Weather Service-operated Automated Surface Observing Systems offline, and forecasters have not received the latest rainfall totals at the airport as of Friday morning, according to the weather service.
Meanwhile, meteorologists predict more showers and thunderstorms South Florida Friday as residents began draining streets and cleaning up after the unprecedented storm.
EXPLAINED:Fort Lauderdale saw 2 feet of rain in a day. How on Earth is that even possible?
Flood warnings expire; festival plans continue
Flood warnings expired by mid-morning Friday, but the weather service continued to urge drivers to be cautious of water-covered roads.
The downpours failed to put a damper on plans to host the Tortuga Music Festival on Fort Lauderdale Beach over the weekend.
Organizers announced the three-day festival for ocean conservation awareness would continue as planned beginning Friday afternoon.
‘Even worse than what we would see in a hurricane’
The rare and extreme rainfall event that hit South Florida occurred less than two months away from the start of the Atlantic hurricane season on June 1.
“It’s probably even worse than what we would see in a hurricane,” Bill Deger, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist, told USA TODAY.
It’s unusual for one area to be hit with 4 to 6 inches per hour over several hours, according to Deger. He referred to the severe weather event as “almost the perfect storm.”
“The thunderstorm complex kept redeveloping over the same area and not really moving much over the course of many hours, partly due to a lack of wind flow across the area that would normally move these thunderstorms around,” he said. “So you could say it was even more significant than what you would see in even the worst hurricane.”
Schools closed again Friday
Broward County Public Schools, the sixth-largest school district in the nation with more than 256,000 students, canceled classes again Friday after water inundated halls and classrooms in some schools.
Schools had also shut down on Thursday. All district schools and offices would be closed Friday as well as all after-school activities, events and extracurricular activities.
Schools and administrative offices are expected to be open on Monday, April 17, the district said in a tweet.
What happened in Fort Lauderdale and why?
Frankly, it’s complicated. Several factors aligned in just the wrong way. And it left a rainmaker virtually stalled over the city for hours.
While earlier forecasts warned the alignment of weather systems could produce rainfall amounts up to six inches, the storms dumped up to four times that much rain over Broward County.
- Early Wednesday, a slow-moving frontal boundary to the south was lifting very slowly northward.
- Ahead of and alongside the front, winds converged from two different directions, bringing moist air and creating slow moving thunderstorms along the coast and offshore.
- The conflicting weather patterns interacted in a way that can be difficult to anticipate on a local basis.
- Storms continued to build as the warm front crept northward, drenching Broward County with the incredible rainfall totals.
READ MORE:Florida’s epic rainfall explained
Wet weather to continue in South Florida
Friday’s forecast shows a chance for additional rain and thunderstorms in the South Florida region Friday, but it’s possible the wet conditions will impact areas farther inland away from Fort Lauderdale and the coast, according to Miami-based weather service meteorologist Donal Harrigan.
“Some of the models indicate that the potential rainfall amounts will be less than yesterday, but any rainfall over there can still be pretty impactful considering that some roads are still closed,” Harrigan told USA TODAY.
PHOTOS:Waterlogged Fort Lauderdale airport, flooded Florida streets amid huge rain storm
‘ONCE IN EVERY 1,000-2,000 YEARS’:Storm swamps Fort Lauderdale with 25 inches of rain
While the rain’s magnitude won’t reach that of earlier this week, Harrigan said it’s possible that even an inch of rain could cause further problems as the residents along Florida’s southern coast attempt to dry off.
“There wouldn’t likely be long-standing issues, but it could result in short-duration road closures if they were to be impacted in those areas,” Harrigan said, adding that flash-flood emergency conditions were not anticipated Friday.
Trump Jr. slams DeSantis for traveling during floods
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was traveling out of state as South Florida endured flooding, and Donald Trump Jr. has spoken out against his lack of presence.
“Fort Lauderdale is under water and DeSantis is campaigning in Ohio right now instead of taking care of the people suffering in his state,” Trump Jr. tweeted Thursday.
After his book tour stop in Ohio Thursday, DeSantis was scheduled to give a keynote speech to Republican donors in New Hampshire Friday.
DeSantis declared a state of emergency in Broward County in response to the severe flooding Thursday.
Contributing: The Associated Press; Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY