May 24, 2018
West Palm Beach, FL – The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) has prepared the region's massive flood control system to move water and protect residents from flooding as a result of the heavy rainfall forecast over the next five to seven days.
"Much of South Florida, including the regions that will see the heaviest rainfall over the Memorial Day weekend, have already experienced an above average amount of rainfall for the past few weeks," said SFWMD Chief Engineer John Mitnik. "Our staff and our flood control system have been hard at work moving flood waters away from communities. The District will continue this work as the storm approaches and passes over South Florida."
Local daily maximum rainfall totals are forecast to be as high as four inches per day from Friday until Wednesday in areas such as Fort Myers in Lee County and the Big Cypress Basin in Collier County. Coastal areas of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties are forecast to see local maximum rainfall totals as high as three inches per day. Slightly less rainfall is projected for the Treasure Coast and Kissimmee River basins.
Due to the interconnected system of drainage canals in South Florida, flood control is a shared responsibility between the District, county and city governments, local drainage districts, homeowners associations and residents. As this storm system approaches, residents should familiarize themselves with how to contact their homeowners association, municipality or local drainage district responsible for their property's drainage. A Local Contact Tool to help you determine the local drainage authority that represents your area can be found at SFWMD's website by clicking here.