SUNRISE, Fla. – A security guard at the Swap Shop in Sunrise said he’s never seen flooding as bad as it was on Sunday and into Monday in the six years he’s been working at the indoor-outdoor flea market.
In the area where vendors usually would sell their merchandise in outdoor booths, the water was so deep there that they couldn’t set up on Monday. It looked more like lake than a parking lot.
Bad flooding was seen throughout Broward County. The water mostly stayed out of people’s homes, but it still caused serious transportation problems.
In Lauderhill, residents woke up to find their streets knee-deep in water.
Gibson Sevre was stranded. He couldn’t drive his car through the deep water.
“Like, I can’t even go home, like, it’s flooded over there and over there and over there, but I live right over there, so everywhere I try to go is just flooded.”
On Northwest 21st Street, near U.S. 441, some people walked through the floodwaters to get around.
One group of people pushed their car to higher ground so they wouldn’t have to start the engine in high water.
Others took a chance and drove through it. Sevre said he saw several cars getting stuck on the way.
“The other side is real flooded because the lake, the lake came on land and as you can see over there, there’s about three cars that’s stuck in the water,” Sevre said.
Two truckers were busy throughout the day towing disabled vehicles from the area.
On Northwest 46th Avenue and Northwest 15th Street, one couple decided to get around the neighborhood in a canoe.
"When I looked outside and I saw how far the water was and how deep, I just happened to glance at my canoe and I asked my wife, ‘Hey, do you want to go for a ride? And she said OK,’ " Ronnie Wallace said.
Wallace said they wanted to canvass the neighborhood to check out the depth of the waters on the roads.
“We’ve never had this type of water. My house, in particular, was never flooded like this,” Wallace said.
Back at the Swap Shop, we asked the security guard what plans there were to drain the water.
He said there was no point in pumping out the water because the canals nearby were so full, the water would flow back into the lot.
He said they were going to wait for the water to recede naturally.