Sri Lankans left stranded as state of emergency declared in Florida

Rex Clementine in Miami

Life came to a standstill here in Miami on Wednesday due to torrential rain and subsequent flood and the Sri Lankan team was left stranded in their hotel in Fort Lauderdale. After the team was knocked out of the ICC T-20 World Cup with the game against Nepal washed out, Sri Lankan players and support staff were set to leave for St. Lucia Wednesday evening. However, flood forced the team to stay at the hotel.

Sri Lanka’s next game agent Netherlands is on Sunday and the team is expected to fly out after the situation settles in Florida.

There were some 200 flight cancellations at Fort Lauderdale while over 300 flights were cancelled in the nearby Miami International airport.

While flights were having issues to take off due to the bad weather, passengers faced challenges as well with no cabs available to travel to the airport as the roads were flooded.

Restaurants and malls were closing up in Fort Lauderdale area due to inclement weather and the government issued a warning to people to stay indoors.

Sri Lanka – Nepal game was the first in Florida in this World Cup. The venue is set to host three more games and all three of them now face abandonment as bad weather is predicted until the weekend.

A state emergency has been declared by Mayor of Fort Lauderdale. Several roads and even highways were shut down due to flooding.