Catherine Rusoff
O Sunshine State is no stranger to storms, but one city saw a record deluge on Tuesday night. Sarasota, Florida received nearly 4 inches of rain in just one hour.
The National Weather Service recorded 3.93 inches of rain at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport just before 8 p.m. Tuesday.
“It’s the highest it’s been in an hour,” CBS News senior weather producer David Parkinson said Wednesday. “[It’s] an event that has a probability of 0.1% (or once every 1,000 years).”
O National Weather Service said one of its stations on Siesta Key, less than seven miles from Sarasota, reported nearly a foot of rain, with many areas getting more than five inches in the past 24 hours. Sarasota and several other nearby areas saw even greater rainfall, the agency said, with the Sarasota coast seeing between 6 and 10 inches of rain on Tuesday.
Sarasota, Punta Gorda and Fort Myers are under flood watches until at least 8 p.m. Thursday. Much of Sarasota’s flooding was captured on camera, with photos and videos showing people pushing submerged cars off the roadsMoving slowly fire trucks causing wakes in water-covered streets and popular areas Saint Armand’s Circle looking like their boutiques are beachfront properties.
Other regions of the state were also affected. In the past 24 hours, Miami Beach has seen nearly 7 inches of rain, while Hallandale Beach has seen 6 inches, and Hollywood, North Miami and Coral Gables have received just over 5 inches of rain, CBS News Miami reported.
According to Parkinson, the 1-in-1,000-year event in Sarasota could happen again – not even 24 hours later. He said such heavy rainfall was possible again on Wednesday and Thursday and there was the potential for another foot of rain “on top of what has already fallen.”
“The entire southern third of Florida is at risk here, and flash flooding is likely,” he said. The heaviest rain will last until Thursday, although the rain is expected to continue until Saturday.
Rainy weather arrives like National Hurricane Center continues to monitor a low pressure system moving over Florida. That system is “producing a large area of disorganized rainfall and thunderstorms,” the center said in an update Wednesday morning, adding that there is a “low” 20% chance that the system could continue to develop into a major tropical storm within a week.
The frequency and intensity of storms is predicted to only increase as global temperatures rise, as increased heat accelerates precipitation, helping to fuel the storms. This year has already seen consecutive heat records across the planet, and these temperatures are not expected to decrease with the continued burning of fossil fuels, which trap heat in the atmosphere.
Rising global temperatures also lead to another problem – drought. Sarasota’s torrential rain this week comes as the area faces a severe drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. The government-run monitor shows the drought has affected the entire county, which had the 38th driest April in 130 years of records.
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