‘Once in every 1,000-2,000 years’: Storm swamps Fort Lauderdale with 25 inches of rain. Live updates

South Florida was under siege and under water Thursday amid a storm that dumped 25 inches of rain over some coastal areas, flooding homes and highways and forcing the shutdown of a major airport.

Fort Lauderdale was slammed with 25.95 inches of rainfall in 24 hours, AccuWeather reported. Some areas received 20 inches of rain in six hours. Hollywood and South Miami received at least 9 inches of rain.

“The amount of rain, the rainfall rate is something you should see once in in every 1,000 years or once in every 2,000 years,” Dan DePodwin, AccuWeather’s director of forecast operations, told USA TODAY. 

AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said at one point Fort Lauderdale got about 1 1/2 inches of rain in 10 minutes, “close to the United States’ all-time record for rain in that short period of time.” 

Both Fort Lauderdale and its home county of Broward issued a state of emergency as flooding forced residents in some areas to wade through knee-high water or use canoes and kayaks to navigate the streets. Work crews cleared drains and pumped out standing water Thursday after the previous day’s deluge.

A flood watch was in effect across much of South Florida through Thursday night, the National Weather Service said.

WATER EVERYWHERE:Photos show water-logged Fort Lauderdale airport, flooded Florida streets amid huge rain storm

Sections of I-95, the state’s main north-south traffic artery, were overwhelmed by water for several hours. Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief Stephen Gollan warned of “severe flooding in multiple areas” of the city of 180,000 residents.

“Stay off the roads until some of this water dissipates,” Gollan warned. “There are cars getting stuck in flooded waters, just (adding) to the emergencies that are taking place.”