A preliminary and detailed damage assessment from the historic April 12-13 flooding in Broward County reported more than $100 million in “major damage” to nearly 1,100 homes and hundreds of temporary layoffs and permanent by the companies concerned.
Flooding shut Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport for two days, causing hundreds of flights to be canceled and delayed because the runway there was under water for several days.
In addition to destroying dozens of homes and damaging numerous businesses, gasoline deliveries from Port Everglades to southern counties across the state were disrupted, triggering a wave of fuel shortages and with it long lines of waiting at service stations that lasted several days. .
State and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) damage crews determined that 1,095 homes suffered major damage and 255 only minor damage. These numbers of affected residences include those with waist-deep water in some areas, as well as “hundreds of homes contaminated with raw sewage, further compounding recovery efforts.”
In Broward County alone, a total of 2,350 claims have been filed with the National Flood Insurance Program. Another 35 cases were submitted by other parts of the state which also resulted in damages.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has asked President Joe Biden for federal aid to help pay for flooding that dumped nearly 26 inches of rain in some areas over a 24-hour period in Broward County.
DeSantis made his claim 13 days after rains began flooding east-central Broward County, particularly the cities of Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach and surrounding areas.
“The event resulted in historic flooding in previously unseen areas of Broward County,” Ron DeSantis’ letter said, adding that “flooding in Broward County resulted in significant damage to concentrated areas.”
According to a county business damage assessment survey, some 227 businesses were affected. The estimated economic losses reach the figure of more than 100 million dollars.