MIAMI (WSVN) - The skies above South Florida opened up, bringing relentless rainfall that triggered several weather warnings and advisories and led a popular music festival to temporarily hit the pause button.
The soggy Sunday brought a flood of trouble for downtown Miami. wjere hundreds of thousands of people gathered for the Ultra Music Festival.
“Wow, this is crazy. I’ve never seen such a thing; it’s like the sea is in the city,” said an attendee.
The inclement weather led organizers of the three-day electronic dance music showcase, which took place this weekend at Bayfront Park, to hit the pause button in the afternoon.
“Ultra’s going to be delayed for a while, dude. The lightning is striking, people are leaving, this is awful,” said an attendee. “[The digital sign] says, ‘Due to extreme weather, the festival has been temporarily paused. Please evacuate the stage.’ And this is at the Resistance Stage.”
Once Ultra resumed, people found creative ways to get around flooded Biscayne Boulevard to get to the venue.
“Something I never expected at Ultra was having to tightwalk on concrete pillars to get in,” said an attendee.
That’s right. Revelers walked on top of concrete barriers to avoid the nasty floodwater.
“It’s kind of crazy. We have to balance through this right here, and we just have to see how it goes,” said attendee Nikolaij Kjellerup. “Hopefully we don’t fall in the water.”
A flash flood warning that was issued for parts of coastal Broward and Miami-Dade counties, Sunday afternoon, was extended in Miami until 7 p.m. It extended from east of the Little River Area south to the Brickell area.
A tornado warning was also issued for the Florida Everglades with a storm that moved away from populated areas.
Street flood advisories were in place for coastal Miami-Dade and most of Broward until 5:30 p.m. A new street flood advisory for parts of Miami-Dade was later issued until 8 p.m.
Back on Biscyane Boulevard, Miami Police officers shut down Biscayne Boulevard to traffic in the most impacted area, between Northeast 11th and 13th streets, near the Adrienne Ardht Center. Crews were later seen bringing pumps ro help get rid of all the standing water.
Over by the Kaseya Center, there was more traffic trouble. 7News cameras captured several vehicles that were stalled out.
Heading north, several cars were also stalled out in a flooded parking lot in Sunny Isles Beach. Fire rescue crews helped drivers who were stuck.
Drivers were advised to avoid flooded roadways and to turn around whenever possible when encountering standing water.
All of the flash flood warnings were later cancelled.
Miami Beach, meanwhile, received between five and seven inches of rain, mainly in South Beach and Mid-Beach.
Pennsylvania Avenue was shut down between 13th Street and Española Way, due to flooding, as well as the intersection of Alton Road and Chase Avenue.
Video showed driveways covered in water on Alton Road, near 47th Street, and floodwaters brought parts of Collins Avenue to a standstill near 50th Street.
Roads were very wet in Aventura as well, though the rain created a beautiful rainbow over the city.
As for Ultra, it was extended until 11 p.m., one hour after it was set to wrap up.
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