Less than a year after Fort Lauderdale was destroyed by Hurricane Ian, it has once again been ravaged by historic flooding. On Apr. 13, all of Broward County was declared to be in a state of emergency by FDEM (Florida Department of Emergency Management) for unprecedented rain, with Fort Lauderdale bearing the brunt of the storm. From Apr.13 to Apr.15 the city received 25 inches of rain, leaving some citizens stranded in over two feet of water. 

This comes at a worrying time for Fort Lauderdale Citizens as it sets the recovery effort from Ian back to day one. In late Sept. the city was hit with back to back tornadoes, 150 mph winds and over 25 inches of rain. This destroyed houses and caused major power outages and flooding all throughout Broward County, most of which had yet to be repaired. With the new flooding, those who were lucky enough to have had repairs have been set back, and those who were not are getting set back further. 

“My aunt had a lot of flooding during Ian and it completely ruined a lot of her house,” sophomore L Harrs said. “She still had tarps on her floor from months ago and the flooding has only made it worse. I don’t know if she’ll be able to stay in her home anymore, it’s unlivable at this point.” 

There have not yet been any updates from FEMA, who doled out one billion dollars in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. There could also be the added issue of FEMA’s notorious difficulty in processing more than one claim per year, as was proved to Florida residents in 2004 when the state was rocked with hurricanes Charles, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne all in a six week span. 

“In years that we’ve had back to back hurricanes it has been extremely frustrating,” history teacher Deborah Childers said. “We had to fill out all kinds of paperwork. It took weeks and sometimes months to get adjusters out. It was just not a good situation for anyone without great insurance.” 

At the moment, the Florida government has remained silent on relief plans, but has yet to lift the state of emergency. 

“I think that it’s insane that the government hasn’t said or done anything about it,” junior Dior Collins said. “It’s so close and I didn’t know there was anything wrong, let alone that there was a whole natural disaster until a whole week later. They [Florida’s government] should have done something by now.”