Fire rescue crews rescued around 600 people trapped in homes and vehicles in Broward County Thursday after a historic weather event inundated neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale and elsewhere.
Using high-water vehicles and boats, rescue crews worked their way through floodwaters to reach stranded residents.
HISTORIC FLOODING
In one case, an NBC6 camera captured an elderly couple being rescued from their residence.
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There was also a report of a woman and her two children who had to be rescued after they had to take refuge in their attic to escape the floodwaters.
Other people had to be rescued from vehicles that became stalled on flooded roadways.
Dozens of vehicles could be seen stuck in several feet of water in some of the hardest-hit areas.
Rescue crews were bringing the residents who escaped floodwaters to a Red Cross assistance area on State Road 84.
The Red Cross later announced that they were opening an emergency assistance shelter at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale to help anyone impacted by the flooding.
Fort Lauderdale officials said as of Thursday night, about 600 people were rescued and 38 were taken to shelters.
"Everybody’s wondering where am I gonna spend the next week," said Dawn Beemer, one of the residents who took refuge in a shelter. "Where am I gonna spend tomorrow — we’re all asking that question, including myself."
Beemer lives in the Lauder Lakes Mobile Home Community, where the neighborhood pond quickly turned into a lake at her doorstep. Her car was also totally submerged.
"We spent the night with the neighbors on my couch with our feet on the floor, and we had about 12 inches of water up our calves and it was ice cold," she said. "And we woke up this morning, sleeping off and on."
Like many of her neighbors, Beemer said she doesn't have flood insurance. She said she is hoping for some type of state or federal assistance.
National Weather Service officials said South Florida received a "prolific" amount of rain Wednesday, with the highest amounts of over 20 inches in coastal Broward.