40 Rain and Rescue: Fort Lauderdale’s Battle Against a Record-Breaking Downpour In Hurricane Alley, communities have a long history of weathering storms. Cities in the region take a proactive approach to storm preparedness with measures to respond to and recover from severe weather events. But the deluge that fell on Fort Lauderdale the night of April 12, 2023, came without a name and without a warning. Powerful thunderstorms from the north entangled a pocket of gulf moisture moving in from the southwest. The resultant The GIS team at the City of Fort Lauderdale was instrumental in managing the response to unprecedented flooding. atmospheric river dropped a staggering 25 inches of rain in about 12 hours. The forecast for that evening had called for a few inches of rain, nothing major for the region. “To us it was just going to be another afternoon rainstorm,” recalls Jeff Lucas, Fort Lauderdale deputy fire chief. At city hall, where Fort Lauderdale’s GIS team works, moderate rainfall started at around 3:00 p.m. A couple of hours later, the team members
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