Tropical Storm Eta drenches Florida

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Residents in a flooded neighborhood in Plantation, Fla., on Monday Associated Press/Photo by Carline Jean/South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The storm flooded whole neighborhoods in South Florida on Monday. Eta made landfall in the Florida Keys and spread rain and wind as far north as the Tampa Bay area. The storm is slowly moving up the southwestern Gulf Coast, just far enough offshore that it could strengthen into a minor hurricane.

How is Florida weathering the storm? More than 14 inches of rain saturated the region last month, and much of the water had no place to drain. Miami-Dade and Broward counties have received the most precipitation. In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., officials dispatched 24 tanker trunks with giant vacuums to soak up water and passed out 6,000 sandbags to residents over the weekend. Mayor Dean Trantalis called it a 100-year rain event. On Monday night, Subtropical Storm Theta formed in the northeast Atlantic but posed no immediate threat to land. Theta is the 29th named storm this Atlantic hurricane season, breaking the long-standing 2005 record.

Dig deeper: Find the latest information on the storm at the National Hurricane Center.

Editor's note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.

Rachel Lynn Aldrich

Rachel is a former assistant editor for WORLD Digital. She is a Patrick Henry College and World Journalism Institute graduate. Rachel resides with her husband in Wheaton, Ill.