Miami Herald

Published Tuesday, September 11, 2001

`It could go on' for days

15 inches of rain may fall by Thursday; flood watch extended through today

BY MARTIN MERZER mmerzer@herald.com

Here we go again. For the third consecutive year, damp South Floridians and worried water managers prepared for car-swamping, furniture-staining floods as a subtropical weather system threatened to produce up to 15 more inches of rain by Thursday.

``Start pumping and get out the hoses,'' said forecaster Jim Lushine, the National Weather Service's warning coordinator for South Florida.

Gray sheets of rain bedeviled many motorists Monday evening, and more of the same was expected during this morning's rush hour. And tonight's. And Wednesday's. And . . . ``It could go on all day, all night, for the next few days,'' Lushine said.

A flood watch in effect since Saturday was extended through today and probably will remain in place until Thursday, forecasters said. Emergency managers in Miami-Dade County asked employers to warn workers of dangerous conditions. Authorities in low-lying Sweetwater canceled vacations for city employees and prepared to distribute sandbags.

``We're taking it one day at a time,'' Mayor Jose Diaz said. ``We have ordered as many pumps as we can. We are expecting the worst.''

Accumulations of rain were relatively modest Monday and no serious flooding was reported, but that could change.

With the ground nearly saturated by last weekend's rain, forecasters warned of an additional five to 10 inches almost everywhere in South Florida between today and Thursday. Some poor souls might have to cope with 15 inches, Lushine said.

Disturbed by what they saw developing, South Florida's water managers opened locks on drainage canals Monday and began dumping 7 billion gallons of water a day into the ocean -- during a long-term regional drought that hasn't felt very dry lately.

``Just about everything in Dade County is open right now,'' said Randy Smith, director of the South Florida Water Management District, which manages the region's flood control system, a half-century old web of canals and gates that is often overwhelmed by heavy rainfall.

Engineers also opened all flood gates in Broward, he said.

Despite the preparation, Smith warned of flooding in low-lying areas, in part because many local drainage systems are even less capable of handling a tropical deluge.

In Miami, meanwhile, a bolt of lightning struck a house at 160 NW 67th Ave. and ignited a fire that caused considerable damage, according to fire fighters. One woman was treated for smoke inhalation, and neighbors got quite a scare.

``We were dousing the fire with our garden hose,'' said Eduardo Nadal, who lives next door. ``The flames were reaching my house.''

Forecasters attributed the thunderstorms to a system that began developing Saturday in the Atlantic, moved over Florida during the weekend and grew stronger Monday in the Gulf of Mexico near St. Petersburg. Though close to land, the system could grow into a tropical depression or even a tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center said.

``Even if tropical cyclone formation does not occur, this system is likely to produce heavy rainfall, which could produce flooding over portions of the Florida peninsula over the next few days,'' hurricane forecasters warned.

Lushine said the system was expected to tarry for a day or two in the Gulf and then -- you guessed it -- hook a U-turn and cruise back over Florida.

``We're on the wet side of this thing and we're going to stay there awhile,'' he said. ``We're looking for hefty amounts of rain.''

The system already had proven itself an overachiever.

Between 7 a.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Monday, water managers reported 6.3 inches of rain in Fort Lauderdale and 3.9 inches at Miami International Airport.

As Monday's evening rush hour approached, Miami-Dade's Emergency Operations Center faxed and e-mailed advisories to some public employers and agencies, asking them to warn employees to ``monitor local weather during the day and keep their driving to a minimum.''

``We just want to make sure that everyone leaving was aware of what is going on,'' said Bill DelGrasso, assistant emergency operations manager. ``A lot of times when these things happen, we have folks just looking out the window, and they have no idea how serious it is.''

During each of the last two hurricane seasons, South Floridians have been ambushed by flooding rains. In October 1999, Hurricane Irene caused eight deaths and flooded wide expanses of Broward and Miami-Dade, leaving $600 million in damage. Last October, a system that later became Tropical Storm Leslie flooded 95,000 homes and 600 businesses, leading to $155 million in insurance claims.

This latest burst of trouble compelled water managers to place all water-pumping stations on 24-hour-a-day shifts and open all canal gates in Miami-Dade except the S-197 gate in extreme South Miami-Dade. It was likely to open soon, they said, though not without consequences.

``That one is a little problematic when it dumps freshwater into the bay,'' said district spokesman Randy Smith. The change can kill marine life.

District pumps were also working to siphon runoff from farms into Lake Okeechobee, which remains about a foot below the 13-feet-above-sea-level mark that managers want to reach before declaring an end to the regional water shortage.

With so much rain predicted, the storm could close the gap quickly.

``If the rains do reach the area and stay for awhile, backpumpimg could be a matter of flood control -- not water supply,'' Smith said.

Herald staff writers Lila Arzua, Elisa Batista, Curtis Morgan, Hannah Sampson and Nicole White contributed to this report.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2001