Flood alerts issued as early rain soaks South Florida

The rain continues. And so does the flooding.

A flood warning was issued early Wednesday for Broward and a flood advisory was issued for Miami-Dade.

“There is potential for flooding across South Florida,” said Andrew Hagen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “It means we need to be alert and watch for flash flooding.”

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch Tuesday night for Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Collier and Hendry counties and will remain in effect until 8 p.m. Wednesday, meaning flood conditions could develop.

The rainy weather has caused lots of flooding. In Davie, the Broward city was hit with three inches of rain on Tuesday, which followed nearly five inches of rain previously, Miami Herald news partner CBS4 reported.

Late Tuesday evening, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue responded to a call of a collapsed ceiling in north Broward.

People took to canoes and kayaks to get around several Broward cities, while cars were swallowed up by the flooding in the parking lots of Sawgrass Mills Mall, news reports showed.

Tuesday’s gloomy weather and heavy rain has made the morning and afternoon commutes a rough ride. Low-level street flooding happened in Hollywood areas east of U.S. 1 between Pembroke Road and Taft Street.

Six to 8 inches of rain fell across South Florida Tuesday morning, and weather spotters for the agency said streets in Southwest Ranches had flooded in an initial flood advisory issued earlier Tuesday. Areas in Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Coral Springs, Davie and Plantation got more flooding during the afternoon.

The heavy rain caused trouble at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which tweeted that several dozen flights had been delayed or canceled Tuesday morning.

It also caused power outages. As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, 126 customers were without power in the Fort Lauderdale area, according to FPL’s Power Tracker.

Last weekend was particularly stormy, in time for the June 1 start of the hurricane season. The National Weather Service issued a handful of flood advisories for South Florida and reported Tuesday that it had found evidence of an EF-0 tornado, the weakest on the tornado intensity scale, near Sheridan Street and Flamingo Road after a tornado warning was issued Monday night.

The remainder of the week looks equally soggy.

Wednesday’s forecast includes more rain and thunderstorms and, though Thursday’s chances of rain hover around 40 percent, the likelihood of rain trends up again for the weekend. There also will be a full moon on Friday, which could affect the tides and the flooding.

This story was originally published June 6, 2017 at 9:32 AM with the headline "Flood alerts issued as early rain soaks South Florida."