Pakistan's T20 World Cup at Risk Amid 'State of Emergency

A state of emergency has been declared in Fort Lauderdale due to the life-threatening flash floods in Florida. Hundreds of flights bound to and from South Florida airports have been grounded by the local authorities. As a result, the Sri Lankan cricket team, which is currently taking part in the T20 World Cup, was left stranded in the city. Fort Lauderdale is one of the three venues in USA scheduled to host the T20 World Cup matches. It will host three important games involving India, Pakistan and USA. The first game in the city -- Sri Lanka vs Nepal -- was also washed out due to heavy rain in and around the stadium. 

Fort Lauderdale

"Preliminary reports indicate that the rainfall and flooding has affected and may continue to impact the operational capability of critical infrastructure, including major interstates, state and county roadways, airports, schools, and other critical infrastructure throughout these counties," Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, said in the declaration.

The Sri Lankan team was supposed to fly out from Fort Lauderdale to the Caribbean islands on Wednesday, but heavy rain and flooding has forced them to delay their departure.

Sri Lanka will play Netherlands at St Lucia in their final group game on Monday, June 17. They have lost two of their three games so far, but have an outside chance of making it to the Super 8 stage.

This means that Pakistan can qualify for T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eight stage even if they beat Ireland by a narrow margin in their last Group A match on Sunday, provided USA lose to the same team on Friday.