Foot of rain causes severe flooding in South Florida in ‘1-in-1,000 year event’

Storms in South Florida brought almost a foot of (30cm) rain in a matter of hours on Wednesday, causing widespread flooding, closing the Fort Lauderdale airport and turning thoroughfares into rivers. That amount of rain in a 24-hour period was a “1-in-1,000 year event”, Ana Torres-Vazquez of the National Weather Service’s Miami office told CNN. Forecasts predicted more rain on Thursday as Fort Lauderdale issued a state of emergency with flooding persisting in parts of the city. Emergency crews had worked through the night to attend rescue calls, but there...