Erika's flood watch ends for South Florida; newly formed forecast to fizzle

By Ken Kaye and Brian Ballou

Sun Sentinel contact the reporters

After a wild weather weekend, atmospheric conditions around the region calmed down early Monday. And a new storm that formed off the coast of Africa will turn and dissipate long before it has a chance to affect our weather.

Shortly before 4 a.m., the in Miami cancelled a flood watch that was originally scheduled to expire at 8 a.m. because of the squalls and thunderstorms in the aftermath of .

The weather service says the highest moisture associated with Erika's remnants has now moved north of the region.

Meanwhile, it will be business as usual at schools in all three counties. The Palm Beach County School District announced its plans for normal operations on Sunday afternoon. Broward and Miami-Dade made that call on Saturday.

Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks will re-open at 10 a.m. Monday, the National Parks Service said.

While moisture associated with Erika produced several inches of rain across South Florida, there were no reports of tornadoes or dangerous flooding. In Fort Lauderdale, Mayor Jack Seiler said he was concerned that heavy rains in combination with high tides could lead to problems in areas of the city prone to flooding. But that did not happen Sunday, Seiler said.

"We were pleasantly surprised," said Seiler. "We had reports of minor incidents, but nothing major."

Seasonal high tides, called king tides, can flood streets in low-lying coastal neighborhoods, even in clear weather. The high tides started Saturday night and will continue periodically through Wednesday.

In Palm Beach, strong waves and high winds caused parts of the beach to collapse, leaving a cliff as high as five feet in some places.

"The erosion is, I mean it's unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it," said Tiffany Keaton, of West Palm Beach, told Sun Sentinel news partner WPEC-Ch. 12.

The waves also brought out some surfers and kite surfers.

"We haven't had waves in South Florida in quite some time," said Alex Chapin, of Boynton Beach. "This is a lot of fun out here."

Rainfall totals varied Sunday from a quarter to half an inch in some coastal areas to nearly 5 inches of rain southeast of Weston, said meteorologist Chuck Caracozza of the National Weather Service in Miami.

"There could potentially be heavier bands through the night and overnight, but it's all wait and see at this point," he said.

Florida Power and Light Co. crews were working to restore to power to the 2,349 customers in Broward County, 323 customers in Palm Beach County and 649 customers in Miami-Dade County who were without power due to the storm, said spokesman Bill Orlove. There still should be clouds and showers on Monday, but the weather should be improving, said meteorologist Robert Molleda of the National Weather Service.

"The bulk of the moisture will gradually shift to our west and north on Monday," he said. "We should be on the system's back edge."

Erika killed at least 20 people and left more than 50 missing on the Caribbean island of Dominica. Rescue crews were struggling Sunday to reopen roads to remote communities.

Erika whipped the island for more than five hours last week, bringing strong winds and intense rain that provoked flooding and landslides. Hundreds of homes were destroyed.

In Haiti, the storm killed at least one person in a suspected landslide. Four others died when a truck hit a bus during the downpour.

In far eastern Atlantic, forecasters are watching the sixth named storm of the 2015 hurricane season. What formed as Tropical Storm Fred became a low category hurricane overnight. No threat to Florida is expected as Fred is forecast to weaken as it aims generally west in the Atlantic.

As of 8 a.m. Monday, Fred was about 40 miles south of Rabil in the Islands, moving northwest at 12 mph with top winds of 80 mph.

Staff writer Mike Clary contributed to this report.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.