By Jennifer Mooney Piedra, Diana Moskovitz and Adam H. Beasley
The Miami Herald (Florida)
LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. β Stormy weather overnight Sunday left much of South Florida soaked on Monday β but relief is on the way.
Conditions are expected to improve by Tuesday, when drier weather will move into the region, according to the National Weather Service.
At Miami International Airport, 1.48 inches of rain had already fallen by 8 a.m. Monday. The overnight downpour also caused some flooding in the usual problem areas, such as Biscayne Boulevard near downtown Miami.
The weather was less severe in Broward County, which received up to an inch of rain in some spots. But high winds may have caused power lines to fall and spark a pair of fires in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea on Monday, according to Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue.
The two fires β one in a tree and the other on the exterior of an apartment β forced nine people out of their apartment homes at Blue Horizon apartments at 4301 and 4249 Bougainvilla Dr.
The fires happened at about 11 a.m., and firefighters quickly extinguished them, Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said.
No one was hurt, but residents were forced to find places to stay on Monday after a building inspector labeled the building uninhabitable, Jachles said.
Tuesday brings a 30 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms, but starting Wednesday, the rest of the week is expected to be dry.
βThe rest of the week should be drying up significantly,β weather service specialist Bob Ebaugh said.
Although the nasty weather caused a soggy start to the work week, some good news came from it. Water levels in Lake Okeechobee, which has suffered from a two-year drought, have risen in the past few days.
Currently at 10.35 feet above sea level, the lake is still about four feet below average.
Copyright 2008 The Miami Herald