The National Weather Service has decreed a state of emergency due to flooding in the Miami metropolitan area at the beginning of Wednesday afternoon after four days of persistent rains.
The authorities activated all the alert networks through information that interrupted television and radio broadcasts. The information also reached the cell phones of citizens registered with that service.
The alarm covers Miami-Dade County, but it has also been extended to Broward, to the north. Between 3 and 7 inches of rain have fallen in those two counties in the last 24 hours.
The emergency does not have an expiration time, which must be announced at the end of the afternoon once it is determined which areas of Miami have been most affected, since the rains are not the same everywhere. Nor has it always rained continuously in the same areas, she told OnCuba Zack Martin, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center. The alarm will most likely extend until Friday, he added.
For now, the most affected areas, according to the city’s radio media, are Miami, particularly downtown, Hialeah, Davie, Opa-locka, Little Havana, North Miami, Coconut Creek, Edgewater, Brickell, affected by the accumulation of water in the streets
The Miami airport has not shut down operations due to the rain, but a spokesman stressed that if it persists, flights could be disrupted, which has happened on previous occasions.
The wind has also been a worrying factor. With gusts to 20 to 30 mph, conditions are expected to worsen into the afternoon, especially on the East Coast where gusts could reach as high as 28 mph.
According to experts, this means there is a danger of rip currents on the beaches and deteriorated conditions for navigation.
The authorities issued a warning of high waves, as well as an alert to prevent small boats from setting sail. A warning was also issued for the high risk of rip currents.
