ORLANDO – The first tropical threat of Florida’s hurricane season swept across the state Friday night, leaving South Florida residents and local officials facing flooding, power outages, vehicles jams and cleaning hours, which affected some businesses.
In Miami, drivers faced heavy rains and flooded streets in the early hours of Saturday morning. City firefighters responded to several people trapped in cars amid rising waters. Six high-water vehicles deployed in the city, the department said on Twitter. Winds of 40 miles per hour did not reach the threshold required for the system to be classified as Tropical Storm Alex, but they did drag water downtown, even into condominium parking areas.
The storm has brought more than 10 inches of rain to Miami over a 72-hour period, according to Accuweather, but other areas, such as Key Largo (11 inches) and Biscayne Park (11.6), saw higher totals. Floods were also reported in communities outside of Miami, such as Hialeah and Hollywood, as well as in Naples, Florida, on the Gulf Coast.
However, power outages did not go off overnight. As of 9 a.m. Saturday, Miami-Dade County had 4,083 outages, according to PowerOutage.us, though that number dropped to 1,310 at 11:30 a.m. The surrounding counties of Broward and Palm Beach reported 985 and 214, respectively.
To the west, Collier County, home to the well-populated Naples, had 226 interruptions at 9 a.m., but only two at 11:30 p.m. Lee County, further north along the Gulf Coast, had 47. At noon, all tropical warnings were canceled in most of southwest Florida when the storm hit the Gulf Coast. treasure in the southeast region, according to the National Meteorological Service.
Although meteorologists said the storm never fully organized as it traveled from the Gulf of Mexico to the Cayos (it could still get stronger as it leaves the Atlantic coast, they said), not much rain is needed. to cause chaos in Miami, especially on a weekend night where many are out.
Goncalo Gil, 26, was left inside as streets were blocked with water outside his apartment in the Brickell neighborhood of Miami. Mr Gil, a pilot student who posted a video of flooded streets on Twitter, wondered if the city’s flood prevention system, which included rainwater pumps and dikes, had worked as intended. “Since midnight, it was flooded everywhere, all the cars stopped,” he said.
Kash Kashmiri, 30, arrived at Total Nutrition in Brickell at 10 a.m. and found a customer waiting for him outside. The store manager saw water at the entrance and worried about allowing it to enter. Mr. Kashmir offered to gather the products the customer needed and make a cash transaction at the front door. The customer helped move sandbags while waiting, and then paid for an assortment of protein fritters, healthy snacks, and energy drinks.
Mr Kashmir said he had to turn down other customers because they had no cash. But he added that some flooding was pretty standard for Miami. “It’s normal to have a strong storm here, a light flood can be expected,” he said by telephone. “Any kind of tropical storm, I’m sure you can expect flooding.”
More than two hours after his turn, the rain picked up again and he noticed that people in the area were tying up furniture.
Warnings of possible continued weather hazards were maintained over the weekend.
“The main threat right now is the potential for heavy rains and flash floods,” Miami National Hurricane Center spokeswoman Maria Torres said Friday.
Early Saturday morning, the center warned of “major urban and sudden flooding” in South Florida.
The total rainfall associated with the storm was expected to be extensive. Western Cuba could see up to 14 inches of rain with the possibility of sudden and life-threatening mudslides, meteorologists said. Some areas of the northwestern Bahamas could see up to 10 inches.
The forecast for Florida included the possibility of tornadoes in the southern part of the state until Saturday. The Hurricane Center also said some cities in the state could see a storm surge of up to three feet.
People living in parts of South Florida that are prone to flooding should identify a safe place to go if the waters start to rise and be careful not to drive through stagnant water, Ms. Torres said Friday.
“Turn around, don’t drown,” he said.
Hurricane Agatha, the first known storm in the eastern Pacific region, roared Mexico this week as a Category 2 storm with heavy rain and damaging winds. He killed at least nine people and left five others missing, South Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat said Friday morning.
Concerns about dangerous weather in the Atlantic began this week when meteorologists said a large area of bad weather, related to the remnants of Hurricane Agatha, had formed near the Yucatan Peninsula and had interacted. with a top-level trough over the Gulf of Mexico.
Meteorologists expect a “above-normal” Atlantic hurricane season, which will last until Nov. 30, with between 14 and 21 so-called storms deemed likely. Up to 10 of them are expected to reach hurricane strength.
Alanis Thames, Nick Madigan and Jesus Jiménez contributed to the report.