Fort Lauderdale was hit with excessive rainfall causing flooding throughout the area beginning on April 12. The flooding harmed critical infrastructure and has led to gas shortages in the Town of Jupiter and along the east coast. 

With no access to gas, families faced the struggles of not being able to get to work, sports and school, causing panic in many students. 

“I am a commercial fisherman and the gas shortage affected me because I have to drive really far to go sell my fish and gas has gotten ridiculously expensive,” Nicholas Bailey, senior, said. “I was kind of wondering where I’d stop next because my truck burns gas ridiculously fast. I was definitely stressed and I still haven’t been able to fill up.”

Not only has the gas shortage caused a major interference, flooding and intense rain has also had an effect. 

“I spearfish and free dive and the weather has made it really difficult because that’s also what I do for a living. Getting out there in five foot seas is not easy,” Bailey said. 

With Port Everglades seaport processing 40 percent of the state’s fuel, flooding damage against it made way for the slowed fuel distribution. 

According to floridadisaster.org, “the State Emergency Response Team (SERT) has deployed and delivered over 500,000 gallons of fuel to Southeast Florida. At the direction of Governor Ron DeSantis, an additional 500,000 gallons have been deployed to commercial gas stations in the area.” 

Even though the flooding mainly occurred in Broward County, other parts of Florida were also affected highly. In the Fort Lauderdale flooding, people on the site were put at risk facing damages to their car and other personal belongings leading to the displacement of residents. 

Fort Lauderdale’s airport was shut down due to DeSantis announcing his request for a Major Disaster Declaration for Broward County because of high amounts of debris and flooding on the water way. 

“On Wednesday night, I found out my Thursday morning flight was canceled so I was a little worried about not having a flight scheduled,”  Deanna Rivero, Manager of Athletic Academic Services, said. “When I woke up on Thursday morning, I immediately called the travel agency and got a Thursday night flight scheduled. Then, a few hours later my Thursday night got canceled and I was informed there were no flights available from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach until Saturday. I was extremely disappointed because my whole weekend got ruined due to a circumstance out of my hands.”