April 22 ------ Residents of South Florida have been on the edge with new warnings of more bad weather.
The severe storm last week brought historic flooding that caught many by surprise, including Filipino-American Joy Bruce.
"When we went to bed it was okay. Then when we woke up, everything was flooded," said Bruce, a resident of Lauderdale Lakes. "It's the worst. I’ve been here for the past 25 years, I ‘ve never seen this kind of flooding before.”
The National Weather Service said more than two feet of rain fell over a 24-hour period in the Fort Lauderdale area last week. On Monday, just one hour from where Bruce lives, a hail storm threatened to damage house roofs and cars.Some airlines had to divert flights on Monday afternoon, but the number of disrupted flights was not as bad when the floodwaters closed the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
A state of emergency has been issued for some parts of South Florida to help provide resources for the thousands affected. Bruce, who leads a center for the elderly in the Miami Area called "Nanay," said that the center is ready to provide shelter for those in need.
“We already installed a bathroom, a shower, just in case for those who are staying overnight so they can at least clean themselves," she said. "That’s in preparation if anything bad happens again.” Meanwhile, officials said it only took seven hours for the unprecedented storm to cause extensive damage, estimated at tens of millions of dollars.
Source: abs-cbn.com