FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Fort Lauderdale and Broward County officials provided an update regarding flood response efforts Friday.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis was joined by other city and county leaders in a noon news conference at an operations base along Southwest 26th Street.
That area, in the city’s Edgewood neighborhood, was especially devastated by floods caused by torrential and long-lasting rain this week.
Crews rescued a number of stranded residents from the neighborhood Thursday.
Watch the full news conference:
At Friday’s news conference, Trantalis said the area’s largest need was pump trucks.
Trantalis said the city is looking for additional locations for “comfort centers” for residents in addition to already-opened shelters.
“We are determined to make sure that our residents are safe, restore the community and neighborhoods,” Trantalis said.
Trantalis said crews are going neighborhood-by-neighborhood to survey flood damage.
6 p.m. report:
He said officials from the state and federal governments were assisting local crews.
“We are well on our way to recovery,” Trantalis said.
Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said local governments are unlikely to get reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for response efforts and individual federal assistance is unlikely as well.
He said the scale of the disaster is unlikely to meet FEMA thresholds.
Guthrie also called on all law enforcement officers to aid in removing stalled vehicles.