More than 25 inches of rain drenched Fort Lauderdale, most of it within 6 hours

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — More than 25 inches of rain fell on Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday — most of it falling within six hours — prompting the issuance of multiple weather advisories and the closure of the city’s airport.

According to the National Weather Service, 25.91 inches had fallen in Fort Lauderdale as of 7 a.m. Thursday.

Mayor Dean Trantalis said the city declared a state of emergency due to the “unprecedented” rainfall.

“What we’re seeing here is a thousand-year-old incident. No city could have planned for this,” Trantalis said Thursday. “No weather service could have warned us about this.”

WATCH: Fort Lauderdale mayor provides flood update

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis provides an update on flooding

“Yesterday was like a sheet of rain. The rain was very widespread,” WPTV meteorologist Jennifer Correia said.

Most of the rain fell during a six-hour period from Wednesday afternoon into the evening, with several weather stations reporting up to 20 inches, said Dr. Pablo Santos, a meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service’s forecast office in Miami. . Time frame.

Watch: Streets flooded in Fort Lauderdale

Aerial video of flooding in Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport experienced significant flooding and will remain closed to aviation activity until at least 5 a.m. Friday.

The airport’s upper deck departure route reopened at around 3am on Thursday to allow drivers to bring along their families and friends who are still stuck at FLL. The lower access road remains closed.

Santos said there is a 0.2% chance that these amounts of rain will fall at the airport within a 24-hour period, and a 0.1% chance they will occur within a six-hour period.

“It wasn’t just Fort Lauderdale that received a significant amount of rain,” Correa said. “It also spread to areas around Fort Lauderdale and into Davie.”

Watch: Rainfall totals for Broward County

WPTV First Alert Meteorologist Jennifer Correia summarizes Fort Lauderdale’s rainfall totals

More weather: radar |Alerts | 7 day forecast | Hourly forecast

The NWS said 18.16 inches of rain fell in Hollywood, 17.3 inches in Dania Beach, and 15.06 inches in Plantation. In Miami-Dade County, 13.15 inches of rain flooded Coconut Grove.

More storms are expected Thursday, Correa said.

“Today there will be more scattered and isolated thunderstorms. However, we have the possibility of more severe thunderstorms,” ​​Correa said.

All Broward County public schools are closed Thursday, and all after-school activities, events and extracurricular activities are also canceled.