What now? Fort Lauderdale residents hit hard by flooding share stories
FORT LAUDERDALE - A tour of one some of the areas hit hardest by flooding shows hundreds of homes that have been inundated after more than 25 inches of rain fell on Fort Lauderdale this week.
As CBS News Miami's Peter D'Oench observed as he took a tour in Edgewood along S.W. 30th Street and S.W. 12th Av., flood waters have crested just outside homes where residents say in some cases they have lost power and their vehicles have been flooded and they say they are stranded.
The city of Fort Lauderdale has deployed 18 Vactor trucks to pump water away and every city in Broward is reportedly sending units to help out, as has the city of Miami and FEMA. The city says overnight Fire Rescue responded to more than 250 calls but there were no major injuries or deaths reported.
In Edgewood, Luis Gordillo said, "My home is totally damaged. Everything is wrecked. This is really bad. I lost furniture and I do not know what I am going to do."
Gabe Kudela said, "I have water inside and both of my vehicles are submerged and will have to be checked out at the dealer. This is a nightmare. It really started Wednesday night and we have had no power since and no bathroom working and no A/C. This is unprecedented. Even with all the hurricanes the water never came in through the front and the back as it did last night."
Jerry Desrosiers said, "Everything is finished inside. All the beds and the kitchen and the cabinets. This is the worst I have ever seen and I have been here since 1969."
Not far away, Becky Castellano said her home was inundated by flood waters.
"The water was ankle deep and you can see the marks on the floorboard. It was at least 3 inches high and you can see where all the water in the sludge came in here. We took 180 gallons out of here with a wet vacuum. 180 gallons is what we took out."
"People have been driving by and the water has been going into our house from that from inconsiderate drivers. I have been yelling at them to slow down," she said. "This is astounding. My husband and I are both 65 and dealing with this on our own. We have lost our refrigerator and our dood stuff and it smells in here. This is hard, back-breaking work and I don't have the resources to do it."