FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – South Florida is busy preparing for the impact from powerful Hurricane Milton, even though it appears the region may be spared from a direct hit.
That doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing quite a bit of rain and wind, with the wet weather already showing up for most of the weekend that just passed by.
Rain from Hurricane Milton isn’t expected in South Florida until Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean the water levels aren’t already rising.
Diane Morrison, who lives in Fort Lauderdale’s Edgewood neighborhood, where the waters have risen far too often and far too high over the past year, had her son helping out with some sandbags Monday.
“It is a very major concern,” she said. “My neighbors were totally flooded, I lost two cars in the last flood, I lost everything in my shed.”
Added Edgewood resident Verna Colomb, “I got some sandbags, I got cat litter I can put out there, just worried about no electricity, the main thing.
Local 10 News spotted a water pump about a block away.
At this time last year, the city was in the middle of a multimillion-dollar stormwater improvement project to, hopefully, keep the water out.
The question is: Will it?
“We’ll see what happens,” said Morrison.
In Fort Lauderdale’s Shady Banks area, Southwest 16th Court was already flooded from Monday’s rainfall.
It’s a common occurrence for people who live there, like Steven Parry.
“You can see this one road is flooded and nobody does anything,” he said.
Last April, when Fort Lauderdale saw historic flooding, Parry’s house was under water.
They lost a car, too.
“We had three feet of water inside the house,” he said. “The whole left side was done, my son’s nursery was done.”
South of Fort Lauderdale, in Hollywood, Local 10 News’ Roy Ramos visited an area that was underwater as recently as Sunday night.
Fortunately, the rainfall was minimal Monday which allowed the levels to go down.
The city has also been working to move any standing water with pumps as soon as it starts to build up.
“The flooding by Wal-Mart is really bad and now seeing coming back here it is bad,” said Hollywood resident Tiffany Kidd.
The low-lying areas prone to flooding are more susceptible after prior storms have left the ground saturated.
For that reason, residents are preparing as best they can by securing their homes.
“We are going now to get the sandbags,” said Kidd.
This came as city workers have placed mobile pumps along streets like North 14th Avenue and Harding Street, an area that’s no stranger to flooding.
“They are making sure that the pups are working, that areas are cleared as quickly as possible,” said city of Hollywood spokesperson Arlene Borenstein, who warned drivers not to risk trying to navigate high waters.
“If you see that there is a problem, if you start seeing rising water turn around immediately,” she said.
On the Hollywood Broadwalk, city crews were in place, preparing for heavy rains as Hurricane Milton continues to build strength while approaching the west coast.
The city has sandbag stations throughout Hollywood, as well as at the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Administrative office located at 1405 S. 28th Ave.
Additionally, Hollywood officials have waived parking fees in all four of its city-operated parking garages.
In Hollywood Beach, they are the Garfield Garage, located at 300 Connecticut St. and the Nebraska Garage at 327 Nebraska St.
In Downtown Hollywood, they are the Van Buren Garage located at 251 S. 20th Ave. and the Radius Garage at 251 N. 19th Ave.