Brevard's Rescue Day by the Numbers: Deputies Helped More Than 100 Motorists, Airboats Pulled at Least Seven From Wingate Homes, and Palm Bay's Fire Headquarters Flooded
The Space Coast's 1,000-year rain became a rescue operation: sheriff's deputies helped more than 100 people caught in rising water on the roads, airboats pulled at least seven residents from a West Melbourne subdivision, and Palm Bay's firefighters had to abandon their own flooded headquarters for City Hall.
Brevard County's flood day was measured in rescues. Sheriff's deputies helped more than 100 people who were caught in rising waters while driving to work or running errands throughout Monday, said Don Walker, spokesperson for Brevard Emergency Management, and airboats were used to pull at least seven residents from their homes at the Wingate subdivision in West Melbourne. Southeastern Palm Bay, Grant-Valkaria and portions of Malabar received 20 inches of rain over a 24-hour period in what the National Weather Service called a one-in-a-1,000-year rainstorm.
Palm Bay's own rescuers were busy and then displaced. Palm Bay Fire Rescue crews handled nearly a dozen calls for motorists stranded in the rising waters, and fire crews were seen on airboats powering through flooded neighborhood roads to check on residents. The headquarters of the city's fire department was itself flooded, forcing firefighters to move to City Hall. Palm Bay issued a shelter-in-place advisory about noon, citing significant roadway flooding throughout the city.
"If you can stay put, stay put," Sheriff Wayne Ivey said at a Monday afternoon Emergency Management press conference. "We will get to you. I don't care if we have to swim to you or kayak to you." John Scott, director of the county's Emergency Operations Center, said sections of south Brevard received 15 to 20 inches of rain and that he expected floodwaters to recede as the storm tapered off Monday evening. Emergency officials asked residents to reserve 911 calls for those who are trapped and need assistance rather than for reporting flood damage. No evacuation orders had been issued.
