South Florida woke up Sunday under a Flood Watch covering every part of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, as the National Weather Service in Miami warned that bands of heavy rain moving in off the Atlantic could flood streets from Sunday morning through Monday afternoon. The watch runs from 10 a.m. Sunday to 3 p.m. Monday. The weather service said scattered spots along the east coast could receive 3 to 5 inches of rain through Monday, and isolated spots could see 5 to 7 inches — possibly within a few hours — enough for isolated to scattered flash flooding whose main impact would be flooded streets and road closures, with limited effects on buildings in flood-prone areas.
Source: National Weather Service Miami flood watch, issued Nov. 1, 2026
Three alerts at once, and the clock on each one
The Flood Watch, issued at 12:43 a.m. on Sunday, is only one of three National Weather Service products in force for the coast. A Coastal Flood Advisory for coastal Miami-Dade, issued at 1:57 a.m., runs until 7 p.m. Monday and warns of minor to moderate flooding of lots, parks and roads around high tide, with only isolated road closures expected from the tides alone. A Rip Current Statement covering the same coastline also runs until 7 p.m. Monday, warning that rip currents can sweep away even strong swimmers. Further south, the weather service office in Key West issued its own Coastal Flood Advisory at 3:55 a.m. for the Middle and Lower Florida Keys, in effect until 5 a.m. Monday, warning of saltwater flooding of low streets and lots, overflowing storm drains and overtopped seawalls and docks.
Why this weekend floods so easily
Two systems are stacking on top of each other. An upper-level low parked over Florida is pulling in moisture, and strong low-level easterly winds are driving repeated bands of rain in from the ocean over the same coastal strip, according to the weather service's watch text. At the same time, South Florida is in a stretch of high tides. That combination is what turns heavy rain into street flooding here: storm drains along the coast empty into bays and canals that are already near street level at high tide, so when the heaviest rain falls close to high tide there is nowhere for the water to go. Local flood trackers reading the Virginia Key tide gauge put Sunday's peak water at about 1.7 feet above normal high tide in Miami Beach and about 1.5 feet in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale. Sunday's forecast for Miami called for a 90 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, a high near 83 degrees and east winds gusting to about 24 mph, with another 1 to 2 inches of rain possible Sunday night and a further 90 percent chance of storms on Monday.
Source: Red Sidewalks, Flood Watch report, Nov. 1, 2026
Never drive through a flooded street — the water hides how deep it is and whether the road surface is intact, and around high tide coastal puddles are a mix of rain and saltwater. Expect the worst conditions in the hours around each high tide, and check the National Weather Service Miami alerts before using coastal routes such as A1A and the causeways.
What it means for residents, travellers and freight
For the roughly six million people of the tri-county area, the practical effects are flooded neighbourhood streets, closed lanes and slow going on the corridors that tie the coast together — Interstate 95, Florida's Turnpike and the beach causeways — whenever a rain band sits over a city at high tide. No specific highway closure had been announced when the watch was issued; the weather service's wording is that road closures are the expected impact if the heaviest bands develop. The timing also matters beyond the commute: Monday is the last full day before Tuesday's midterm elections, and voters returning mail ballots or travelling to early-voting and election offices on Monday should allow extra time and avoid low coastal streets. Beachgoers face a separate danger — the rip current risk runs through Monday evening, and the weather service warns against entering the surf at unguarded beaches.
What is solid
- The National Weather Service in Miami issued the Flood Watch at 12:43 a.m. Sunday for all of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, running 10 a.m. Sunday to 3 p.m. Monday
- The rainfall figures — 3 to 5 inches scattered, 5 to 7 inches isolated — are the weather service's forecast amounts, not measurements of rain that has already fallen
- A coastal flood advisory and a rip current statement for coastal Miami-Dade run separately until 7 p.m. Monday
What is only claimed
- Whether the watch is upgraded to a Flood Warning depends on where the heaviest rain bands set up — that cannot be known until the rain is falling
- Which individual streets close, and for how long, will only be known as water rises; no closure list existed when the watch was issued
Background: king-tide season on a low coast
Street flooding is a recurring autumn problem in Miami-Dade and Broward even without a storm. The region's king-tide season brings its highest tides of the year in the fall, and a local flood tracker counting days at the National Weather Service minor flood level at the Virginia Key gauge lists 22 flood days so far this year, against 23 in all of last year. This weekend's alerts did not arrive without warning: a coastal flood advisory for moderate coastal flooding in coastal Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach ran through Saturday evening, with flooded coastal roadways described as likely, and a high surf advisory brought breaking waves of up to 10 feet to Broward and Palm Beach beaches on Saturday. Sunday's Flood Watch is the escalation — the point where the threat shifts from tide water alone to tide water plus repeated heavy rain.
What happens next
The watch stays in force until 3 p.m. Monday, and the weather service's standing advice is to monitor later forecasts and be ready to act if a Flood Warning is issued for a specific area — a warning, unlike a watch, means flooding is occurring or imminent. Rain chances stay at about 90 percent through Monday, so the second half of the event may be as wet as the first. The coastal flood advisory and rip current statement both expire at 7 p.m. Monday. After that, attention turns to how much rain actually fell, whether any neighbourhoods took water into buildings — the watch text says effects on structures should be limited to flood-prone areas — and to a dry-out day on Tuesday, when polls open across the tri-county area for the midterm elections.