Unusual late November rainfall impacts iconic Broward business
DAVIE -The owner of an iconic Broward business says he cannot recall the last time he saw this amount of rain in such a short period this time of year.
Both Roth, who has run New River Groves at 5660 Griffin Road for more than 50 years, says the grove where his 300 Mango Trees are was flooded after more than two inches of rain in two days and there was also flooding on Sunday inside his office that sits just off Griffin Road and near a canal.
Roth told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "Last night I didn't think the rain would stop. It was pouring down and come into the office and from north the street. It's flooding the mango groves. One problem is that if gets much worse it will loosen up the root system. Of course, we are lucky we don't have wind. If we had wind the trees would go over and we would have to push them back up."
Roth said "It seems to be absorbing. It's going back down. It's twice as much water sitting here as when I first walked out of my house. This is the grove for mango trees that are used in our fruit shakes and also used for our key lime pies. There is not a lot you can do with this. We can keep bringing in fill to drain it but when you get this amount of rain every day, it's a little concerning."
"We also had flooding inside our main office on Sunday," Roth said. "We had a few inches in here and it comes in like a river from Griffin Road. We need to do something about the road here. Water from Griffin Road floods down into the driveway and into the office. It doesn't have proper drainage."
Roth said he needs to work on that problem. He also said, fortunately, despite the stormy weather, he was able to stay open.
"I am concerned about business though as we approach a very busy time before Thanksgiving as we make a lot of key lime pieces," he said. "This type of rain was very unusual for this time of year. And I have been here a long time."
Authorities are warning people to watch out for flooded roads and say that most flood deaths occur in vehicles.
A flood advisory had been issued until 2:45 pm for Davie and other areas including Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Plantation, Sunrise, Cooper City and the area of I-75 and Griffin Road.