FPL said crews had been out since Sunday, although high winds and rain made some repairs difficult. “A lot of people get misled by not seeing a truck in their neighborhood,’’ said spokesman Richard Gibbs. “I can tell you there are a ton of people working behind the scenes to get power restored.”

Powerful squalls also continued to stream across Southeast Florida from the far-off storm, placing much of South Florida under flood and flash-flood watches.

Broward Emergency Operations Director Chuck Lanza said weather proved “much worse today” than when Isaac was at its closest on Sunday.

“We don’t want people out driving if they can avoid it,” Lanza cautioned. “In some areas, you can’t tell where the street ends and where the canal starts. It’s dangerous.”

The flooding was widespread but worst in western Palm Beach County neighborhoods such as The Acreage and Wellington, where roads and yards were reported underwater. The South Florida Water Management District reported pumping a record volume out of the C-51 canal there — 9,600 cubic feet of water per second, enough to fill an Olympic pool every 10 seconds.

Monday’s rains came on top of the wettest 24 hours for the district since Hurricane Mitch in 1998, said spokesman Gabe Margasak. From Sunday to Monday morning, Isaac dumped an average of nearly 3.5 inches across South Florida, with many areas seeing far more. The National Weather Service recorded 13 inches in Greenacres in western Palm Beach, nearly 11 in Miramar, 8.5 in Fort Lauderdale just over 8 inches at Homestead Air Force Base.

But as Isaac moved away, South Florida slowly returned to a normal routine.

Schools and universities said they would reopen in Miami-Dade and Broward on Tuesday. Monroe and Palm Beach counties planned to remain closed for at least one more day.

About 158 flights were canceled and 117 were delayed at Miami International Airport as of 5 p.m., mostly from American Airlines and its sister carrier, American Eagle — down from 500 the previous day.

“They can’t go from 500 flights canceled to 100 percent operations the next day,” said MIA spokesman Greg Chin. “They’re gradually bringing aircraft back.”

But by then, the focus of concern had shifted north.

In Tampa, where conditions remained uncertain, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus opened his party’s convention Monday morning in Tampa, then recessed until Tuesday less than two minutes later.

Although Isaac’s core was forecast to miss Florida, Gov. Rick Scott told state delegates at a breakfast meeting at Innisbrook Resort and Spa in Palm Harbor near Tampa that he was still worried about the Panhandle because of a soaking from Tropical Storm Debby in June.

“Our risk right now is the Panhandle,” Scott said. “It is drenched already.”

Not everyone in Pensacola seemed worried.

Clay Boyington, a 50-year-old service boat captain, spent Monday afternoon at The Oar House, a chickee-hut-style watering hole on a marshy inlet known as Bayou Chico.

As the storm clouds began to build, Boyington sipped a vodka-and-cranberry and stared out onto the Bahia Mar Marina, where he docks the 44-foot Sea Ray pleasure boat that serves as his home.

If he had his way, he said, he’d ride it out on the boat.

“It’s a really good hurricane hole,” he said, of Bayou Chico. “It’s protected from the winds and the waves can’t build up. Two big anchors and I’d be fine.”

That wasn’t an option. The marina had issued a mandatory evacuation, and Boyington was paying $440 to have his boat hauled out of the water.

“I’m spending a lot of money to make myself homeless,” he said.

Miami Herald staff writers Daniel Chang, Cammy Clark, Hannah Sampson, Christina Veiga, Laura Isensee, Lazaro Gamio, Susan Cocking, Kathleen McGrory and Jacqueline Charles in Haiti contributed to this report