Record rain drenched Miami for 18 hours straight

Ok, what was that monsoon last night? It stormed for 18 hours straight in South Florida, leaving us with 7.53 inches of rainfall. When coupled with the king tides rolling in, we woke up to a few metropolitan Venices (ahem, Brickell, Edgewater and Doral) and a whole slate of other Miami neighborhoods that, for a few hours, touted ankle-deep lakes. The sun may have peaked through the clouds this morning, but there's a deeply precipitous haze floating around, like a suffocating tropical fog. 

Meteorologists report that it hasn't rained this much since 2012, and apparently this might be the start of a very uncharacteristically soggy season. We're in the midst of El Niño in the Equatorial Pacific, and this weather occurrence could be sending storms and tornadoes to Florida and the rest of the US. (Good thing we have a guide for what to do in Miami when it rains.)

Events like this are never fun – especially if you were caught up in the storm, had property damaged, couldn't get to work due to flooding, or know someone who was negatively affected. Hell, a sink hole formed in Miami Springs! But you have to admit: if no one got hurt, watching post-storm footage is kind of cathartic. Courageous locals (or just people who had to walk their dogs) braved the storm to get that content. Here's a glimpse of what will go down in history as one of Miami's wettest days ever.