Fort Lauderdale Airport Reopens After Historic Rain

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport reopened Friday morning after an unprecedented 26 inches of rain fell on parts of South Florida.

The airport was forced to shut down operations Wednesday after the historic rainfall, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

The first flights took off from the airport Friday shortly after 9 a.m., the newspaper noted.  Floodwaters had to be lowered and hazardous debris had to be removed from the runways and taxiways before planes could depart.

Still, the airport had to operate just one runway since the other had been fully submerged under several feet of standing rainwater in places.

The one-runway operations forced some airlines to cut back or delay flights. The Sentinel said a national database was estimating the average ground delay at the airport Friday morning at 186 minutes.

All public schools in Broward County, which borders Miami-Dade on the south, remained closed for the second straight day because of flooding in some parts. Classes were expected to resume on Monday.