Broward beaches, streets take pounding from heavy storms

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Relentless rain and whipping wind hit Broward County Wednesday, eroding beaches and dampening streets — and some tourists’ visits to South Florida.

In Deerfield Beach, Mother Nature took back some of the gains made by a beach nourishment project.

The city’s coastal manager estimates Deerfield Beach has lost 25% of the sand placed since Friday because of the storms.

Fort Lauderdale saw localized street flooding into Wednesday evening.

Northwest 12th Avenue, off of Sunrise Boulevard, practically turned into a river.

Streets flood in Fort Lauderdale:

Ignoring advice, some drivers tried to go through the flood waters, with some ending up disabled.

Fort Lauderdale were on the lookout for disabled vehicles throughout the day.

Meanwhile, over at Quarterdeck off Las Olas, manager David Montelione served up beverages for the few tourists who braved the rain to grab a bite inside.

“A lot of our seating is outdoors and we are not seating outdoors at all because of the weather the last three days,” Montelione said.

John Ives and 9-year-old twins Aria and Aubrey Gelb were visiting from Ohio and Maryland, respectively.

“We were hoping for the sunshine,” Ives said.

Instead, they got a lot of gray and a lot of rain.

“We wanted to go to the beach, but it is raining, of course,” Aria Gelb said.

But there was optimism.

“It is not too bad right now so hopefully it stops raining,” Aubrey Gelb said.

Other parts of Broward were affected as well.

Miramar, Hollywood and Dania Beach also saw localized flooding.

Cars were seen going through flood waters on Fillmore Street in Hollywood.

Hollywood flooding 11pm report:

Video taken near Dania Pointe showed water going over some cars’ hoods as drivers tried to make it through flood waters.

Drivers planning to go through low-lying parts of Broward were urged to take alternate routes as the rain continued.