Two days earlier, 8 inches (0.2 meters) of water flooded into one of Fort Lauderdale’s landmark restaurants, destroying the carpeting and original hardwood floors. On Friday, workers at the restaurant tore out the carpeting and hardwood floors.
This week’s historic rainfall in South Florida resulted in widespread flooding, the closure of the state’s international airport for nearly two days, and the transformation of roadways into rivers, among other effects.
The National Weather Service reported that the Fort Lauderdale area received record rainfall quantities in a matter of hours, spanning from 15 inches (38 centimeters) to 26 inches (66 centimeters) in a matter of hours on Wednesday.
Since purchasing Old Heidelberg 16 years ago, Stephan and Yvonne Liebe have never experienced a deluge of this magnitude, even during hurricanes and tropical cyclones. The German restaurant is located at the entrance to Edgewood, the hardest-hit neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale.
“It passed through every door, including the emergency exits,” Yvonne Liebe explained.
She stated that the flooding was exacerbated by the city’s refusal to close the main highway that passes in front of and slightly above the restaurant; the passing traffic produced waves that propelled water into their structure.
The Liebes have flood insurance, although they’re concerned about how swiftly they’ll be reimbursed, and they expect to reopen their business within the next week.
As residents attempted to clear up on Friday, the water level in Edgewood had decreased by about a foot from the previous day but was still up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) deep in some areas.
Newlywed Tatiana Rodriguez indicated the location one foot above the floor where water had risen in the studio apartment she and her husband share. The entrance to their residence, which they share with other tenants, remained submerged.
Their wedding tiara from last month is still displayed on the headboard of their bed. When water began pouring into their residence on Wednesday night, they went outside to find foot-tall cinder blocks to use as bed props.
“If we don’t have a bed, we’ll have to leave,” said Tatiana Rodriguez as she swept up detritus. “We are fortunate to be able to remain.”
Hayden Wooster spent two days driving his large pickup vehicle through the streets of Edgewood, assisting residents in reaching their residences. He stated that he assisted two individuals with medical devices and a family with two disabled daughters to evacuate their homes after firefighters in a small boat were unable to do so.
Attorney Wooster stated, “We grabbed them, grabbed their wheelchairs, and brought them to the hotel.”
As the hurricane poured more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) of rain on Wednesday night, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was closed. Airport officials resumed operations at 9 a.m. on Friday after completing final inspections after sunrise. By the afternoon, airport operations were gradually returning to normal, but some commuters were still affected by the nearly two-day closure.
Michael Clement, a Baptist minister from Scottsbluff, Nebraska, was one of them. Clement’s congregation, which he has served for forty years, paid for him and his wife, Ariel, to visit their missionary son in Sao Gabriel, Brazil, a small community in the deep south of that country.
They departed Thursday, flying Southwest to Denver in hopes of connecting to a flight to Fort Lauderdale, where they would board an aircraft to Brazil on Friday evening. When the flight to Fort Lauderdale was canceled, they flew to Orlando instead, then rented a car and drove approximately 200 miles (320 kilometers) to the airport.
Clement sat on the floor playing sudoku 10 hours prior to his flight on Friday, after taking a transport into the city to obtain a COVID-19 test he didn’t know was required to fly on Azul Airlines.
The connecting flight from Brazil to Sao Gabriel is only offered twice per week, and the reservations are non-refundable.
“We simply persevered through it. Southwest treated us exceptionally well,” Clement said.
According to FlightAware.com, airlines were forced to cancel over 650 flights at the Fort Lauderdale airport on Thursday.
The three-day Tortuga Music Festival started off on Fort Lauderdale Beach on Friday afternoon, with Eric Church, Kenny Chesney, Jake Owen, and Shania Twain headlining. Many ticketholders were unable to attend the “rain or shine” event after the airport closed.
Amber Borkoski of Baltimore, Maryland had planned to travel to Fort Lauderdale to commemorate a friend’s birthday when she purchased festival tickets six months prior. However, Southwest canceled her Thursday evening flight from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale, and festival organizers informed her that there would be no refunds.
Borkoski stated that she recognizes that some factors, such as weather, are beyond the festival organizers’ influence, but added, “It’s difficult to accept losing money as well.”
The proprietor of the Old Heidelberg, Stephan Liebe, noted that the National Weather Service described this tempest as occurring once every 1,000 years.
“I could live with that – but can I get it in writing?” he quipped.