Miami-Dade Prepares for Flooding Ahead of Rainy Weekend – NBC 6 South Florida

As South Florida braces for heavy rainfall heading into the weekend, many cities are already preparing for possible flooding.

Miami Mayor Francis Saurez says the city is preparing, clearing city drains, making sure the pumps are working, determining where to bring portable pumps and making sure the EOC is ready to go.

“We need to be vigilant,” said Mayor Saurez. “What happens is we sometimes become complacent when a big storm hasn’t hit us in a while, so I just ask all of our residents to please have a plan.”

One area that has the mayor concerned headed into the weekend is the area underneath 395 in downtown Miami along Biscayne Blvd.

It’s an area that flooded just about two weeks ago.

“The reason why that area continues to flood is because we’re not allowing any of that water to drain into the Bay,” said Saurez. “We’re not letting it drain into the Bay because it pollutes the Bay. It’s dirty water.”

He said we should see pumps in that area.

“The question is where do we pump the water and how clean is the water,” said Saurez.

Over on Miami Beach, the city is also preparing. Mayor Dan Gelber says they also send out pumps and generators early and clear the drains. He says they hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

“We’re ready for anything, but we’re going to do what we always do,” said Mayor Gelber. “Which has been queue up and preposition pumps and generators and clean all the things that need to be cleaned, so if [the rain] is showing up in greater amounts than we want we can clear it out pretty quickly.”