City officials working to restore Broward County after Nicole causes flooding damage to homes, businesses

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – As Hurricane Nicole bore down on our neighbors to the north, storms brought plenty of wet, windy weather all over Broward County.

The heavy rain mixed with king tides led to some significant coastal flooding that reached some surrounding homes and businesses.

Local 10 News’ Ian Margol spoke with Fort Lauderdale visitor Jack Cooper who said that visiting South Florida at this time could be a gamble.

“It’s kind of part of the deal this time of year, you roll the dice down here and sometimes you get the hurricane,” said Cooper.

In Fort Lauderdale, rough surf and high tides sent water spilling over the sea wall.

Local 10 News cameras spotted A1A under several inches of water, forcing city crews to shut those areas down.

Sky 10 flew over Dania Beach Thursday morning where flood waters still sat on roadways and up at the Deerfield Beach Pier.

The high tide and massive waves caused some major damage, ripping off banisters and planks, forcing the city to shut it down.

Crews in Hollywood were seen using pumps to remove the excess water quickly and had heavy machinery ready to clean up excess sand and debris.

City officials say they’re hoping some long-term projects like dune replenishment and creation, burying powerlines, raising streets and increasing the size of public sea walls will help make them more resilient in the future.

City of Hollywood Director of Office of Communications Raelin Storey said that they have a plan in place to restore the affected areas.

“It is something that we’ve been working to address and planning for and we have several programs that we’re looking to implement to try to improve the situation,” said Storey.

Storey did reveal short-term plans to speed up the restoration process.

“Short term we do things like deploy auxiliary pumps to make sure we can remove the water as quickly as possible,” she said. “We encourage people to be prepared with sandbags and have heavy equipment prepared to clear the way as quickly as possible and we do things like clearing our storm drains to make sure they’re working effectively.”

Officials also said that because of the extensive damage to the Deerfield Pier, they have it fully shut down for now.

Officials said they’re planning to get structural engineers out in the next couple of days where they hope to be able to re-open at least the western side of the pier soon after that.

However, the eastern side of the peer is expected to be closed for six months to one year.


About the Authors
Ryan Mackey headshot

Ryan Mackey is a Digital Journalist at WPLG. He was born in Long Island, New York, and has lived in Sunrise, Florida since 1994.

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