A tropical rainstorm is bringing a days-long flood threat to much of Florida.
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00:00We're steamy in the southwest Florida though, it's sitting in the green there
00:04and that's our top story. Flash flooding underway in portions of Florida from a
00:08tropical rainstorm. Drivers are getting caught in flooding in Naples.
00:12Oh not something you like to see Jeff, you know. Ari calls me a preacher on this but I
00:21will forever say please never drive through these areas it is just not worth
00:26it. I've seen way too many water rescues. It doesn't take much water to sweep you
00:32or your car off the road. It's very true and more people in the United States
00:36lose their lives in flooding than tornadoes in an average year. Let's take
00:40you to Tampa right now. Most of those flood deaths are driving and you can
00:45argue that almost all of them, almost all of them are preventable deaths. Here we
00:48can see what's going on in Tampa right now. Looks beautiful at the moment here
00:52into the area of Hillsborough County. Most of the county drier, brighter than
00:56it had been but we had one county south and you can see that we are dealing with
00:59a new flash flood warning just recently issued in parts of southwestern
01:03Manatee County in your Bayshore Gardens down into Sarasota in Sarasota County as
01:08well. That'll be with us until 10 p.m. so that's the latest newest flash flood
01:11warning. We have a new flash flood report here as well in Siesta Key and social
01:16social media video showing flooding in Siesta Key Florida there just to the
01:21south of Sarasota. So the area also to the southwest into Everglades City in
01:26Collier County. Street flooding in this area and not a surprise given what we've
01:31been dealing with here and you can see many reports also into the Miami Metro
01:34as well. Street flooding in downtown Miami near Biscayne Boulevard. Ponding
01:39of water on the roads. Here's a newer report. Flooded streets and sidewalks
01:43there in the area near Byron Ave and 69th Street in Miami Beach and water is
01:47reaching into the front doors of several homes. That's a problem. Flooded cars
01:51also in the area. So people are dealing with some tricky weather here and
01:54obviously something that is going to lead to a longer to-do list this
01:59weekend as things improve gradually. If you have any flood water enter the home.
02:03That's a mess. Flood watches also are on the map here into areas like South
02:07Florida from Naples and West Palm Beach down into Miami and beyond. So current
02:12temperatures are held down by the rain. In fact a cool spot on the map here is
02:15Miami. Enjoy that 77 but again it's tough to enjoy when you're getting flash
02:20flooding in the area. At least it's not as hot as it was. We're at 90 still in
02:24New Orleans is the hot spot in the southeast. So Wednesday more rain
02:28drenching rain into Florida, South Georgia. Some of this will be scattered
02:31but frequently downpours will bring some flooding with a quick inch or two. Two or
02:37three inches in some hours and we're gonna be dealing with this for days.
02:40Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday with gradual improvements later in the week.
02:45So we're very much locked into this year in central and south Florida and that'll
02:49keep temperatures down a high of only 84 in Miami on Thursday. But you get up to
02:53Montgomery, Alabama 96, 92 up into Nashville. Higher humidity by then in
02:57the interior. So it's very much a split forecast in the southeast between
03:01flooding in Florida and the heat building in other areas. On the sixth
03:05shade of green here from Fort Myers down to Naples we're forecasting brie 18 to
03:1124 inches of rain between what fell early this morning through the rest of
03:15the weekend here. It's a big time problems here in Florida.