Standing water frustrates Dania Beach residents
DANIA BEACH -- The City of Dania Beach continues to face a flood emergency one day after record storms ended.
Crews used all of the city's vacuum trucks and pump to push water away from homes but it was not enough, according to Dania Beach Deputy City Manager Candido Sosa-Cruz.
Between city crews, contractors and machines borrowed from Miami Beach and Broward County, seven vacuum trucks and six portable pumps pushed flood water down storm drains and into a retention pond.
"We have a full-court press citywide," Dania Beach City Manager Ana Garcia said.
Still, standing water seeped into some homes and frustrated homeowners.
"Those trucks have been here since yesterday and they're not doing anything," Lupe Hernandez, whose home flooded said.
"We had to give one of our neighbors a ride over here this morning on the bumper," Julia Markman, who lives in the same neighborhood said.
Their community called 'Oasis' felt anything but to homeowner Damaris De Jesus and her children. Water near their door made life difficult. They lost power Wednesday. When it was restored Thursday night, other problems bubbled up.
"We can't use the restroom because all the drains are stuck," she said.
Usually, king tides flood the city's east side. However, the recent 1 in 1,000 year storm hit older, western communities with lower-lying homes and outdated drainage infrastructure hardest, Sosa-Cruz said.
"It's a weather phenomenon that has affected the City of Dania Beach like nothing in the (city's) history going on 120 years," Garcia said.
With property losses mounting, crews worked to drain swamped neighborhoods before the next rainfall.
Weather canceled Kevin Mendez's flight home to New York from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Thursday. So he stayed with a friend until the water reached her door.
"It's really concerning," Mendez said. "It's life or death at this point. If it's not resolved quickly things could escalate really fast."
