Brevard Schools Will Stay Closed Tuesday, and Melbourne Is Under a Boil-Water Notice

Brevard Public Schools will close all of its campuses and offices on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as the district continues to assess flooding and building safety after the Space Coast's 1,000-year rain, the Palm Beach Post's live flood file reports in its 5:30 p.m. Eastern update. Schools are expected to resume operations on Wednesday. The Diocese of Orlando said all of its Brevard schools will also be closed Tuesday, and Florida Tech cancelled all classes and campus activities for Tuesday as crews clear flood debris — the university said some parts of campus are without power and advised students to boil water before consuming it. Eastern Florida State College, which earlier in the day had been expected to reopen Tuesday, still had not made a decision on Tuesday's classes as of 5 p.m. Monday, the live file reports.

The closures follow a day in which the National Weather Service said southeastern Palm Bay, Grant-Valkaria and portions of Malabar received 20 inches of rain over a 24-hour period, an extraordinary total the weather service called a one-in-a-1,000-year event. Brevard County sheriff's deputies helped more than 100 people caught in rising waters while driving to work or running errands, Florida Today reports, and airboats pulled at least seven residents from their homes at the Wingate subdivision in West Melbourne. Palm Bay Fire Rescue handled nearly a dozen calls for motorists stranded in rising water, and flooding at the fire department's own headquarters forced firefighters to move to City Hall.

Two water warnings now sit on top of the flooding. The City of Melbourne issued a precautionary boil-water notice at 4:55 p.m. Eastern for all of its water customers, including West Melbourne customers, after a water main break whose exact location remains unknown; crews are working to locate the break. And health experts quoted in the live file warn that days of coastal flooding can raise the risk of Vibrio vulnificus — bacteria that thrive in the brackish water where seawater and freshwater mix — which can enter through cuts, scrapes or wounds; the guidance is to avoid wading in floodwater with open wounds and to wash exposed skin immediately. For Orlando families with students, relatives or commutes on the Space Coast, Tuesday on the coast is a stay-home day: campuses closed, water boiled in Melbourne, and floodwater treated as a hazard, not a shortcut.