Water Damage Restoration in Broward County

Broward County sits between the Atlantic and the Everglades at an average elevation of about six feet. Extreme rain, tropical storms and aging housing are behind most of its water damage.

Broward County runs from Atlantic beaches west to the Everglades. Water Conservation Areas 2 and 3 lie in the western part of the county. The average elevation is about six feet above sea level. Nearly two million people live in the county, and water damage follows a few repeating patterns: very heavy rain, tropical storms, high water along the coast and leaks inside older buildings.

A county run on canals

The Hillsboro Canal forms much of the northern border with Palm Beach County. South of it, a patchwork of special drainage districts manages local canals and lakes, from the North Springs Improvement District in the north to the South Broward Drainage District in the south. That district alone covers about 73 square miles from University Drive west toward the Everglades, with 150 miles of canals and 7,700 acres of lakes.

These systems move ordinary rain well. Extreme rain is another matter.

Rain that overwhelmed the system

April 12, 2023 is the clearest example. Rain fell at 3 to 6 inches an hour across Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Dania Beach and Wilton Manors, adding up to 15 to 25 inches between noon and midnight. The National Weather Service called it by far the most significant flood event of the year, with entire neighborhoods displaced for as long as a week. The federal disaster declaration that followed, FEMA-4709-DR, covered Broward County. That year the airport recorded 113.61 inches of rain, its wettest on record.

Inland cities have had their own disasters. Tropical Storm Eta in November 2020 flooded Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Weston and Davie, and standing water stayed for days. The Weston page and the Hollywood page cover local conditions in two very different parts of the county.

Water that rises from streets and yards is treated as contaminated. Flood cleanup explains why soaked carpet and drywall usually come out instead of being dried in place.

Coast and inland housing

Along the coast, storm tides add salt water to the mix. In November 2023, a two-foot storm tide flooded areas along the Southeast Florida beaches. Cities at the southern end, including Hallandale Beach, also took some of the worst flooding from the December 2009 rain. The Hallandale Beach page covers its high-rise buildings and king tide flooding.

Across the county, the median home was built in 1980, and more of the homes standing today date to the 1970s than to any other decade. About 29 percent of housing units are in buildings with 20 or more units, where a leak can travel between floors. Parkland, in the northwest, is an exception: most of its homes were built after 2000.

The same phone line covers the whole county

Every Broward community and ZIP code in the service area is listed on this page, and one 24/7 line covers them all. When calling, give the full address and say where the water came from: a pipe, an appliance, the roof or water rising outside.