Stranded cars, sidewalk hot plates, and plenty of water in Lauderhill

LAUDERHILL, Fla. – One Lauderhill resident trudging through knee high flood waters said she really needed a boat to get around.

In Lauderhill, Tropical Storm Eta took its toll.

As iguanas perched by the floodwater’s edge and children played with buckets in streets, which resembled lakes, there were impacts all around from Eta.

Jeffrey Bennett is worried about the financial fallout from the storm. "The water was up to the roof of my car. The mechanic said, ‘Man, your motor is gone. It’s flooded from the water.’ " It may cost him up to $2,000 to have it fixed. That is, if the vehicle is salvageable.

Devin Tennat was making the best of things as he prepared a side-walk hot-plate cooked lunch of rice, peas and curry chicken, purchased from the food mart he and some fires were stranded in front of and surrounded by water. He said he was stuck in the same spot since Sunday night.

“We pushed out about 6 cars of water,” he said.

Then, shortly after we spotted him at the food mart, he was helping to push out another car.

Samantha Presley was in her small red car when she got stuck.

“I was scared I was going to be stuck in that,” she said.

At Caravel Arms Apartments, Erica Stennett was babysitting her 9-year-old nephew on Sunday when, just before 11 p.m., a living-room drip of water quickly turned into a ceiling collapse.

She said she was hit in the head by a couple of pieces that fell. “I am okay, thank God,” Stennett said.

Stennett is working with the American Red Cross for shelter since the roof collapse has left the living space uninhabitable.


About the Author:

Christina returned to Local 10 in 2019 as a reporter after covering Hurricane Dorian for the station. She is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist and previously earned an Emmy Award while at WPLG for her investigative consumer protection segment "Call Christina."