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Forecasters with the National Weather Service are predicting heavy rain, floods, thunderstorms and gusts as high as 18 mph in South Florida Friday with the bad weather continuing into the weekend. 

Scattered thunderstorms could bring wind gusts and heavy downpours starting Friday afternoon, according to NWS predictions. Up to an inch of rain is expected in some parts of Miami-Dade County during the day Friday and up to inches are expected at night.  

The hazardous weather had most of the county and neighboring parts of South Florida under a flash flood warning and flood advisories Thursday, according to reporting from The Miami Herald. Community leaders and forecasters alike urged the public to never drive through flooded roads as there is no telling how deep the flooding has become and low visibility can make it easy to accidentally drive off-road into a canal. The majority of flood deaths occur in vehicles from people attempting to drive through waters and getting stuck, NWS officials said. 

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A 9-year-old boy and his father, 47, were identified as the two people killed when a personal watercraft crashed earlier this week into a Marathon, Florida, sea wall. 

The two crashed on a 2018 Yamaha personal watercraft just before 7 p.m. in a Boot Key Harbor canal near 15th Street Ocean. The father was thrown over the handlebars of the personal watercraft and catapulted nearly 20 feet away onto land, according to reporting from the Keys Weekly. He was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Neighbors rushed to where the boy had landed in the water to try and help until deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrived. The boy was helicoptered out but went into cardiac arrest while on his way to Miami Children’s Hospital. First responders made an emergency landing at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier where he died.  

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An adult and child have died following a crash on a personal watercraft in Marathon, Florida, according to local news outlets reporting. 

Emergency responders were called to the area near 15th Street Ocean around 6:45 p.m. after the personal watercraft crashed into a sea wall.  

Police shared a photo of the mangled watercraft which was then published on various news outlet websites and social media. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the crash.

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The first day of school drop-off lines can be particularly hectic with friends waving to one another after months away and frustrating traffic jams but, for one Florida family, the new school year’s drop-off turned tragic when a mother accidentally hit her child with her car. 

The incident happened before 8 a.m. Monday during school drop-off when the Sarasota middle schooler was attempting to retrieve school supplies that had fallen underneath the car. The child crawled under the SUV to pick up the pens and markers. The mother, who told police she did not see the girl, hit her. 

The girl was airlifted to a hospital in St. Petersburg in critical condition. There was no update on the child’s condition as of Tuesday. 

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A summer chock-full of dangerous floods, prompting iterations of the famed “Florida man” floating down city streets in a canoe to gain traction online are not the only threats to the state during hurricane season.  

Hurricane season lasts from June until November each year and while Floridians may poke fun at the situation online, there is always the potential risk of an upcoming storm during these months. The latest system inching near the coast is expected to become Tropical Storm Ernesto, if it continues to gain strength, according to meteorologists with the National Weather Service. 

Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and more than a dozen other islands in the Caribbean are under a tropical storm warning as of Monday as forecasters continue to monitor a system strengthening over the Caribbean. The system, which, if it continues to gather strength, could become Tropical Storm Ernesto, is expected to bring increased rain and flash floods to the islands. 

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A woman whose sister is on the line for an $8,000 medical bill after shattering her ankle on a cruise ship’s dance floor is warning other passengers to buy medical insurance, according to reporting from The Daily Mail. 

The sisters were traveling from Queensland to New South Wales on a P&O cruise ship, a British cruise line, when one of them dislocated and fractured her ankle. The two were told the injured sister would not be covered by Medicare even though they were traveling domestically and were in Australian waters at the time of the incident. 

“Don’t play Russian roulette with your health and safety, get insurance,” one sister wrote in a social media post to warn other passengers. “We don’t leave home without it.”

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The regular lobster season has officially begun in Florida, marking the long-awaited return of this popular recreational fishing activity. 

Below are several important safety tips and rules you should know before you head out on the water.  

Legal lobsters weigh about 1 pound and have a carapace shell of at least 3 inches or bigger. In Monroe County, you may keep six lobsters per person per day. It is not permissible to use any device that could harm the exoskeleton of spiny lobsters nor are divers allowed to separate the tail from the body or to take egg-bearing spiny lobsters in Florida waters. Recreational trapping is not allowed.

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When June Smith lost her 13-year-old daughter, Harlie Smith, in a boat crash off of Cudjoe Key in 2017, she said she didn’t realize how unprepared they would be in an emergency, according to reporting from WSVN Miami. 

“We’ve spent many years down in the Keys and that day, when I needed help, I didn’t realize you are helpless,” she said. 

Harlie, who her mother described to WSVN reporters as an outgoing, happy child who loved the ocean, was in the water on Aug. 11, 2017, when a boat propeller hit her, causing a severe laceration to her leg. The boat, a 2017 Boston Whaler, was driven by Harlie’s father who did not know his daughter was behind him when he put the boat into reverse, according to previous reporting by local news outlets. 

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A 6-year-old boy was hit and killed by a boat propeller after he went overboard into a Missouri Lake, according to reporting from The Miami Herald Monday. 

The boy was reportedly knee-boarding on Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks, a man-made lake, around 11 a.m. when he fell in the water. The operator of the boat circled back for the boy and, as he attempted to swim back to the vessel, he was caught by the propeller while the boat was still in reverse. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene by a Deputy Coroner. 

A woman in Central Florida who went overboard on a Pontoon boat last week was killed after being hit by the boat’s propeller. Two weeks ago, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued a public notice to alert boaters to safety tips regarding divers-down flags ahead of the start of the lobster mini-season. This comes as boaters and personal watercraft users saw back-to-back incidents on the water in the Florida Keys at the beginning of the month which resulted in the injury of at least eight people including a child and the death of one other person. On July 14, a crash involving a 42-foot boat and a jet ski resulted in the death of at least one person. 

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A fire that broke out Monday at a Key West Marina left at least three boats heavily damaged, officials say. 

Firefighters were called out to Robbie’s Marina of Key West on 7281 Shrimp Rd. at around 9:30 p.m. and took a little less than four hours to be extinguished. At least three boats, measuring 23, 25, and 40 feet, respectively, were heavily damaged due to the blaze. 

No injuries were reported in the incident. Additional details like how the fire got started were not immediately available Wednesday. The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the incident. 

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