The heavy rains left by the potential tropical storm that made landfall this Saturday in the Florida peninsula (USA) have caused significant flooding in the south of the state, especially in the center of the city of Miamiwhere images show cars floating through its streets.
Located in the “dirty” part of the system, where there is more rain and wind, The southeastern area of Florida has recorded strong and persistent rainfall in recent hours due to said storm that this Saturday will cross the peninsula.
This phenomenon has already left at least three dead, one missing and thousands of evacuees in Cuba and is the product of the remnants of Hurricane “Agatha”, that left a balance of at least nine deceased in Mexico a few days ago.
In its bulletin at 08:00 local time (12:00 GMT), the US National Hurricane Center, based precisely in Miami, warned that the storm could leave up to 38 centimeters of water accumulation in some parts of South Florida.
This will cause, they warned, “substantial flooding” in urban areas.
And so it is happening. Local media images show a good number of cars in the middle of completely flooded streets of Downtown and Brickell, the financial center of Miami.
A similar situation is experienced on the streets of Miami Beach, where several vehicles were abandoned by their owners during the night when they were unable to continue their journey in the middle of the water.
Heavy rains tonight coincided with high tide and a storm surge triggered by the storm, hampering the sewer system’s ability to drain lower-lying areas of cities in the region.
Bad weather has affected air traffic and there are already 9% cancellations at departures at Fort Lauderdale airport and 3% at Miami, where they also experience delays, according to the specialized website FlightAware.
To the rain, the main threat that this potential tropical storm brings, the experts add the alert that tornadoes can occur in the south of the state in the next few hours.
The system, which is not expected to be confirmed as a tropical storm until it organizes itself in the warm waters of the Atlantic in the coming days, is already generating winds of 65 kilometers per hour (40 m/h), the minimum to be officially considered a storm. tropical storm.
After reaching the Florida coast of the Gulf of Mexico tonight, it is forecast that this system will return to the sea in the next few hours. when traveling rapidly at a speed of 30 km/h (18 m/h).