Sitting simply north of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide Airport is a small neighborhood referred to as Edgewood — a number of dozen streets of tightly-packed suburban properties.
A detailed-knit group of smiling, working class individuals who help one another.
This blink-and-you-miss-it nook of Broward County has grow to be one of many hardest hit areas in a four-day stretch of torrential downpours and flash flooding.
Dozens of vehicles immobilized as flood waters reached above their hoods. Houses partially submerged and crammed with wherever between a number of inches to entire feets of water.
Early figures present Fort Lauderdale, close to Edgewood, acquired greater than 2 toes of rain on Wednesday, after a number of days of heavy rainfall — historic quantities for a 1-in-500-year storm, the Nationwide Climate Service mentioned.
READ MORE HERE: Chest-high water, boat rescues after ‘unprecedented’ rainfall in Fort Lauderdale space
Denis Menedez, a 32-year-old mom, simply moved into the group three weeks in the past.
A brand new range prepared for set up, a tv with stickers nonetheless on mounted to the wall and freshly constructed furnishings embellished her dwelling.
After a tough day’s work she slumped into mattress Wednesday and dozed off as a rain bathe continued outdoors, pondering nothing of it. She awoke to her husband, Isain Lopez, telling her one thing she mentioned she might by no means think about.
“The water is beginning to get inside,” he advised her.
The pair, with the assistance of her 15-year-old son Santiago, started lifting all their belongings and furnishings off the bottom — however the water saved rising.
As inches turned to a foot of flooding, they knew it was time to evacuate. They stuffed what they may within the automobile and drove to a pals home a number of streets away.
From left to proper: Santiago Rojas, 15, Denis Mendez, 32, and Isain Lopez, 33, go away their partially submerged dwelling within the Edgewood neighborhood on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A torrential downpour severely flooded streets partially submerging homes and vehicles throughout South Florida.
“I by no means anticipated one thing like this to occur,” she mentioned in Spanish. “I haven’t skilled flooding like this earlier than.”
The following day, the trio walked practically the mile-long trek by way of their communities flooded streets to pick-up a lot wanted belongings they left behind.
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As she opened her entrance door, water spilled out pushing a small black and white rat into her flooded driveway.
Slipping into her entryway, nearly falling, she solemnly slogged into the kitchen to start transferring meals from her fridge to an empty bag.
The lounge and kitchen had at the least a foot of flooding, with a clear-marked water line one other foot above the floor.
Denis Mendez, 32, packs meals whereas inside their partially submerged dwelling within the Edgewood neighborhood on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A torrential downpour severely flooded streets partially submerging homes and vehicles throughout South Florida.
She went to start throwing garments collectively, as Lopez and Santiago collected different belongings.
The household had no concept what their subsequent steps can be or how lengthy the flooding would keep.
“We’re going to attempt to recuperate one thing and search for the place to reside,” she mentioned with teary eyes. “Three weeks residing right here and now every little thing we purchased, we simply began, is all gone.”
A number of streets away, Erick Martinez, a 16-year-old pupil at Stranahan Excessive Faculty in Fort Lauderdale, spent the day kayaking together with his small canine Estrella on roads that became rivers.
His dwelling was flooded, and so was his uncle’s and his buddy’s, when the torrential downpour swept by way of the neighborhood.
“It’s my first time seeing this place this flooded,” he mentioned.
Stranahan Excessive Faculty pupil, Erick Martinez, 16, and his canine, Estrella, journey a kayak down a flooded avenue in his Edgewood neighborhood on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A torrential downpour severely flooded streets partially submerging homes and vehicles throughout South Florida.
Romero Ramos was working when the rain storm hit Wednesday. The car parking zone of his work started to flood shifting everybody to move dwelling to stem the attainable coming harm.
What awaited him was one thing he’d by no means seen throughout earlier bouts of showers.
“We arrived to our parking areas and the water was going inside the house — eight to nineteen inches inside,” he mentioned in Spanish.
Ramos mentioned he’d by no means seen it this unhealthy and it was the primary time water entered his dwelling.
The following day, with flooding nonetheless inside and water staining the partitions, he selected to see the state of affairs with readability and optimism.
Folks stand outdoors in flooded waters within the Edgewood neighborhood on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A torrential downpour severely flooded streets partially submerging homes and vehicles throughout South Florida.
“These are issues that occur in life so now we have to face this as a result of who has the management is God and we are able to’t go towards his will,” Ramos mentioned.
He’s unsure what he’ll do subsequent, as he hasn’t been in a state of affairs like this, however hopes the water will go down so he can begin to clear and rebuild.
Experiencing destruction and a tragedy, he nonetheless summarized what befell him and his group very succinctly — and with grace:
“That’s how it’s my buddy,” he mentioned. “An important factor is that we’re alive and life goes on….”
Leon rides his bike down a flooded avenue within the Edgewood neighborhood on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A torrential downpour severely flooded streets partially submerging homes and vehicles throughout South Florida.