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Gutters · Fort Lauderdale

Gutters in Fort Lauderdale, FL

NOAA's Atlas 14 puts the 10-year, five-minute rainfall rate at Fort Lauderdale's Census point at 10.9 inches an hour, and the 100-year rate at 15.9. A gutter that copes with an ordinary afternoon shower can overflow in that burst, so sizing starts from the five-minute number, and the water then has to land at least a foot from the wall.

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Updated October 2026

Low aerial view over a gray-blend shingle roof with gables and valleys, palm trees, a street and parked cars behind.

Fort Lauderdale figures this page uses

People (2020 Census)
182,760
Population estimate (ACS 5-year)
185,604
Housing units (ACS 5-year)
101,691
Median year homes were built
1973

Local know-how

Fort Lauderdale's five-minute rain, in numbers

The same NOAA point gives a 10-year, one-hour rate of 3.59 inches an hour and a 100-year, one-hour rate of 5.49. Over a full day, a 10-year storm brings 9.41 inches and a 100-year storm 16.5. The airport's 1991-2020 normal is 60.95 inches a year, and 71.9 percent of it falls from May through October.

Real storms have already gone past those tables. The airport gauge caught 25.91 inches on April 12, 2023, a day NWS Miami called historic and catastrophic for flooding.

Code

Downspouts and discharge on Fort Lauderdale lots

Florida's residential code requires gutters and downspouts where eaves project less than 6 inches, except at gable rakes or a roof above another roof (R318.5), and the Building code repeats the rule (1503.7). Downspouts must discharge at least 1 foot from the building's sidewall, through underground pipe, an extension or a splash block.

In a city on the New River, where Eta's 2020 flooding put water inside some buildings, that foot is a minimum. Send the water downhill, away from door thresholds and the slab edge, and keep it on your own lot.

Copper-tone half-round gutters on decorative hangers with a round copper downspout on a cream stucco home with a flat tile roof (illustration)Illustration

Illustration: half-round gutters and a round downspout.

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Rain on your roof

How much water a Fort Lauderdale roof sheds

Rain on your roof

Preset: 9.41 inches, the 10-year 24-hour rain (NOAA Atlas 14 at Fort Lauderdale).

11,725 gallons run off that roof, all of it toward the gutters and downspouts.

Math: square feet × inches × 0.623 gallons.

Questions

Gutters in Fort Lauderdale: questions

What size gutters does a Fort Lauderdale house need?

It depends on how much roof drains into each run and on the rain rate used to size it. At the 10.9 inches an hour NOAA gives Fort Lauderdale for a 10-year, five-minute burst, a 5-inch half-round gutter at a 1/8-inch slope, rated at 74 gallons a minute, handles about 650 square feet of roof plan area, and a 6-inch about 970. The 6-inch carries about 49 percent more at the same slope. Steeper roofs count for more: the sizing tables multiply plan area by a pitch factor of up to 1.30. Adding downspouts splits the roof into smaller drainage areas, so each stretch of gutter carries less.

Source: 2023 Florida Building Code, Plumbing, Table 1106.6 (UpCodes transcription); Berger/SMACNA sizing factors; NOAA Atlas 14; all read October 5, 2026.

Related: Gutters

Where should downspouts drain on a Fort Lauderdale lot?

At least 1 foot from the house, by code, and farther when the ground allows. Florida's residential code (R318.5, a termite-protection section) and the Building code (1503.7) both set that minimum, whether the water leaves through underground pipe, an extension or a splash block. In Fort Lauderdale, where the 1991-2020 normal at the beach station is 64.25 inches of rain a year, a downspout that empties beside the slab soaks the same strip of soil again and again. Point each one away from doors and the foundation, toward ground that slopes away from the house.

Source: 2023 Florida Building Code, Residential R318.5 and Building 1503.7 (UpCodes transcription); NOAA NCEI normals; all read October 5, 2026.

Related: Gutters

How often should gutters be cleaned on a Fort Lauderdale house?

At least twice a year, timed around the rain. The airport's normals put 71.9 percent of the year's rain between May and October, with June the wettest month at 9.55 inches, so gutters cleared in late April go into the heavy season empty. UF/IFAS says Florida's pollen season runs January to June and peaks in March and April, and pine needle fall is heaviest from September through November, which makes a second cleaning in late fall worthwhile. Houses under overhanging trees need it more often.

Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals; UF/IFAS (March 17, 2026, and CIR 831); Tower Hill Insurance Group; all read October 5, 2026.

Related: Gutters

Sources for this page(41)
  1. 1.NWS Miami, 'Fort Lauderdale Extreme Rainfall and Flooding - April 12th, 2023' StoryMap. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  2. 2.Wikipedia, 'Fort Lauderdale, Florida' (revision 1372249038). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  3. 3.Permit office: City of Fort Lauderdale - Development Services - Permitting Services. City of Fort Lauderdale - Development Services - Permitting Services. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  4. 4.NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (access data service). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  5. 5.NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (access data service). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  6. 6.Tropical Storm Eta (2020). NOAA National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Eta (AL292020). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  7. 7.NOAA Atlas 14 (HDSC Precipitation Frequency Data Server). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  8. 8.2023 Florida Building Code, Plumbing, 8th ed., Chapter 11 (UpCodes viewer, unofficial transcription). Read Oct 5, 2026. FBC text read from UpCodes (unofficial transcription): check floridabuilding.org or the ICC viewer before quoting (spec 8.7). Source URL inherited from COM-20 (the research cites it "as COM-20").
  9. 9.bergerbp.com. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  10. 10.2023 Florida Building Code, Residential, 8th ed., R318.5 (UpCodes viewer, unofficial transcription); FBC-Building 1503.7. Read Oct 5, 2026. FBC text read from UpCodes (unofficial transcription): check floridabuilding.org or the ICC viewer before quoting (spec 8.7).
  11. 11.2023 Florida Building Code, Residential, 8th ed., Chapter 8 (UpCodes viewer, unofficial transcription). Read Oct 5, 2026. FBC text read from UpCodes (unofficial transcription): check floridabuilding.org or the ICC viewer before quoting (spec 8.7). Source URL inherited from NC-2 (the research cites it "as NC-2").
  12. 12.blogs.ifas.ufl.edu. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  13. 13.ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  14. 14.thig.com. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  15. 15.City of Fort Lauderdale - Development Services - Permitting Services (official page), City of Fort Lauderdale. Read Oct 5, 2026. Official municipal building and permit page (name and link only).
  16. 16.NOAA National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Eta (AL292020), NOAA National Hurricane Center. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  17. 17.NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 9 version 2, partial-duration point estimates at the Fort Lauderdale 2020 Census internal point (26.1412, -80.1467), NOAA Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  18. 18.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates (acs2024_5yr), tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B25001, B25003, B25004, B25024, B25034, B25035, via Census Reporter API, U.S. Census Bureau (via Census Reporter). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  19. 19.Wikipedia, 'List of municipalities in Florida', Wikipedia. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  20. 20.U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census counts (POP100, HU100) via TIGERweb tigerWMS_Census2020 layer 26 (Incorporated Places), U.S. Census Bureau. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  21. 21.Official website: City of Fort Lauderdale, Historic Preservation, City of Fort Lauderdale. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  22. 22.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates (acs2024_5yr), tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B25001, B25003, B25004, B25024, B25034, B25035, via Census Reporter API, U.S. Census Bureau (via Census Reporter). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  23. 23.Florida Building Commission, 'Setting New Standards for Safety: The Florida Building Code' (2004 publication; wind-speed figures in it are outdated and not used), Florida Building Commission. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  24. 24.Broward County, Board of Rules and Appeals, Broward County. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  25. 25.NOAA National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Irma (AL112017), NOAA National Hurricane Center. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  26. 26.NOAA National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Climatology, NOAA National Hurricane Center. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  27. 27.NWS Miami, Weather Safety - Lightning, National Weather Service. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  28. 28.Senate SB 808 staff analysis pp. 3-4, The Florida Senate. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  29. 29.2023 Florida Building Code, Building, 8th ed., Chapter 1 (UpCodes viewer, unofficial transcription), Florida Building Commission (UpCodes viewer). Read Oct 5, 2026. unofficial transcription; verify on floridabuilding.org
  30. 30.2023 Florida Building Code, Building, 8th ed., Chapter 15 (UpCodes viewer, unofficial transcription), Florida Building Commission (UpCodes viewer). Read Oct 5, 2026. unofficial transcription; verify on floridabuilding.org
  31. 31.FBC-B 2023 Ch. 1, International Code Council (Florida Building Commission). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  32. 32.Florida Statutes, section 718.112 (2026), The Florida Senate. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  33. 33.ICC Building Safety Journal, Karl Fippinger, 2024-02-07, International Code Council (Florida Building Commission). Read Oct 5, 2026.
  34. 34.FBCR Ch. 9, International Code Council (Florida Building Commission). Read Oct 4, 2026.
  35. 35.Florida Statutes, section 627.7011 (2026), Florida Legislature. Read Oct 4, 2026.
  36. 36.Insp4pt 03 25, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Read Oct 4, 2026.
  37. 37.FBC-Building 2023 Chapter 2 definitions, Florida Building Commission (UpCodes viewer). Read Oct 5, 2026. unofficial transcription; verify on floridabuilding.org
  38. 38.FBCR 2023 Ch. 9, International Code Council (Florida Building Commission). Read Oct 4, 2026.
  39. 39.miamidade.gov, Miami-Dade County. Read Oct 5, 2026.
  40. 40.OIR form, Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. Read Oct 4, 2026.
  41. 41.NOAA Atlas 14 at Fort Lauderdale: 10.9 in/hr (5-minute, 10-year). NOAA Atlas 14 Precipitation Frequency Data Server. Read Oct 5, 2026.

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Gutters in Fort Lauderdale

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