Overnight rain Monday in south Florida proved enough to close the Fort Lauderdale airport. It also left some horses stabled at nearby Gulfstream Park up to their cannon bones in water.
Trainer Mark Hennig first signaled "serious flooding issues" at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track, with a pre-dawn video of pooling outside his shed row. By sunrise, a news station helicopter captured someone kayaking through the barn area.
The National Weather Service in Miami reported what it called "incredible rain totals," with the track relaying that 12.8 inches fell. A flash flood warning remained in effect until 9:45 a.m.
Training was, understandably, canceled. Racing, which resumes Thursday, is not expected to be affected. No injuries, human or equine, were reported.
A statement from the track read: "Due to the rain, high tides and a loss of power overnight, some of Gulfstream’s older barns were partially flooded. By Monday morning water began to recede and pumps were being used to alleviate the flooding. Horses moved were provided fresh bedding and feed."
Kenny McPeek, who maintains strings of horses during the winter at both Gulfstream and an offsite training facility, tweeted that he'd be moving his horses out of the track.
"The pumping system will drain this off by this afternoon," McPeek said. "I’ve seen this happen another time back in the 90s."
