Extreme rainfall causes flash floods in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale

Torrential downpours in South Florida over the last 24 hours have flooded roads throughout the region, creating life-threatening conditions.

The big picture: The Florida Highway Patrol shut down parts of I-95 in Broward County Wednesday afternoon. Numerous flash flood emergencies were issued as rainfall totals approached 12 inches in some spots.

The latest: The National Weather Service in Miami said all flash flood warnings and flash flooding emergencies across Miami and Broward counties will remain in effect until at least 8pm ET on Wednesday.

• "STAY OFF THE ROADS! SEEK HIGHER GROUND UNTIL FLOOD WATERS RECEDE," it warned.
• "Extreme flash flooding ongoing across South Florida," read the headline on the NWS Miami website Wednesday evening.
• Flash flood emergencies are the most dire flood alert the NWS issues, indicating an imminent threat to life and property, and as of 5:30pm, NWS Miami had issued seven such warnings.

State of play: Miami-Dade and Broward counties have been under a flood watch for most of the week after heavy rainfall began Tuesday, but the situation escalated dramatically Wednesday afternoon as torrential rains fell.

• Fort Lauderdale International Airport reported 11.12 inches of rain so far on Wednesday, according to the NWS.
• Miami Beach recorded nearly 7 inches of rainfall, while Hallandale saw just over 6 inches, WSVN reported .
• The NWS Weather Prediction Center issued a forecast discussion shortly before 5:30pm Wednesday, stating: "Ongoing catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding is expected to continue going through the early to mid-evening hours." The agency called for an additional 4 to 8 inches of rain to fall in the Miami area, "with isolated 10+ inch amounts."
• "For some locations, this will bring multi-day storm totals upwards of 15 to 20+ inches. Significant and life-threatening flash flooding is ongoing and is expected to continue as a result over the next several hours," the agency stated.

Threat level: Grounded: Miami International Airport reported on Wednesday afternoon more than 160 cancellations and nearly 350 delays, per Local 10 News .

• The Florida Panthers were expected to fly out of South Florida early afternoon Wednesday and head to Edmonton for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Thursday.
• The team finally departed after hours of delays.
• Fort Lauderdale International Airport reported flooding on roadways and taxiways as rainfall rates of upwards of 5 inches per hour inundated the region. The same airport flooded last year and was forced to close for days.
• Drivers have resorted to some unsafe tactics to avoid flood waters — like navigating dangerously close to the high-speed Brightline train tracks in Hollywood, Florida.

Zoom out: The heavy rain, which is expected to last well into the evening, is the result of a firehose of tropical moisture flowing from southwest to northeast across the unusually warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

• As the climate warms, extreme precipitation events such as this one are becoming more frequent and intense, studies show .