Heavy rains battered South Florida on Wednesday, closing major roads, stranding vehicles, forcing delays and cancellations at airports, and causing flash flooding in the Fort Lauderdale and Miami areas.

The severe weather, which began Tuesday, is the result of a cold front parked over parts of the state that has dumped more than 10 inches of rain in some areas, Anthony Reynes, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, said Wednesday afternoon.

The region was bracing for more heavy rain on Thursday, with forecasters warning that showers and thunderstorms over parts of the region would raise the risk of flash flooding from late morning through the afternoon.

“It will take very little additional rain to aggravate ongoing flooding in rural and urban locations,” the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said in its excessive rainfall warning, which includes Miami.

Flash flooding was reported on Wednesday from Fort Lauderdale to downtown Miami, Mr. Reynes said, noting that major urban areas, including some homes, had been inundated with water, and that many vehicles had been stranded. By Wednesday evening, more than 10 inches of rain had fallen in Hollywood, Fla.; more than nine inches in Fort Lauderdale; and about eight inches in Miami, he said.

As of Thursday morning, there were no reports of injuries or deaths, but many of the same problems persisted.

Dozens of flights from Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport were either delayed or canceled for the second consecutive day. And plans to begin demolishing Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where a former student killed 17 people in 2018, were also postponed until Friday, 

On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade and Sarasota Counties. The declaration gives emergency managers the authority to allocate resources, including personnel, to respond to the flooding and other effects of the severe weather.

Mayor Dean J. Trantalis of Fort Lauderdale said on social media that resources were being mobilized across the city. “If possible, please avoid driving,” he said. “It’s crucial to never attempt to drive through high water.”

The City of Fort Lauderdale said in an email Wednesday night that it had responded to “multiple stranded vehicles” and that several city roads were impassable.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Weather Service issued its highest level of warning, a flash flood emergency, for a stretch spanning from North Miami to Dania Beach. “The amount of rain that was falling was quickly overwhelming the drainage systems,” Mr. Reynes, the meteorologist, said. “It was becoming a life-threatening situation.”

Like the cars of a train, storm after storm moved from the west coast to the east coast of the southern Florida Peninsula on Wednesday, soaking an area already saturated from the rain. It appears that little relief is in sight.

The threat of excessive rain over South Florida will decrease only slightly on Friday, meteorologists said. Passing showers will again create localized flash flooding, making urban areas, roads, small streams and low-lying regions vulnerable.New york Times