MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade County officials are urging all residents and business owners who were affected by last week’s severe flooding to fill out a survey to help them better assess which areas of the county were most affected and to help them connect residents with resources or services they may need.
“Conducting damage assessment after a storm or a disaster is critical to better help us understand the areas impacted by the storm and where resource allocation is most needed in our community,” said Erika Benitez, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Department of Emergency Management. “Miami-Dade County’s Department of Emergency Management actually activated the damage assessment survey tool to help us understand the areas impacted by this past weather event. The survey tool will help businesses and individuals document the extent and the type of damage sustained during this storm.”
The metro and coastal communities of northeast Miami-Dade and Broward County were rocked by rounds of unforgiving tropical downpours on June 13, which quickly transformed streets into rivers, stranding motorists and causing a cascade of delays and closures along southeast Florida’s bustling I-95 corridor.
The National Weather Service in Miami issued a flash flood emergency – a dire and exceedingly rare flood alert sent out only for the most severe threats to life or property – from North Miami to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Officially, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport recorded 9.54 inches of rain on June 13, a top 10 daily rainfall event with area records dating back to 1912. In these hardest hit areas, the amount of rainfall measured in such short order that day statistically has about a 0.5% to 1% chance of occurring in any given year.
“Information gathered via this survey will potentially help those affected by flooding with additional resources or services,” Benitez said. “Survey responses will also allow the state to expedite any recovering efforts by gathering data and assessing the needs of affected businesses and residents in our community, and even though the participation in this survey process is voluntary, we actually encourage all those affected to participate as the information is vital for local, state and federal partners to assess the overall impact of any weather events in our area and to coordinate those resource allocations for any future events.”
The survey is available in English, Spanish and Creole at www.miamidade.gov/reportdamage.
Those with any questions while filling out the form may call 311. The survey will also be available soon on Apple and Google by downloading the Ready Miami-Dade app.