Sebastian Spared By Hurricane Matthew

SEBASTIAN – Residents in Brevard and Indian River Counties are reporting minimal damage from Hurricane Matthew, a dangerous Category 4 storm that stayed offshore.

Residents became very concerned yesterday after the National Weather Service predicted landfall in the area. This Category 4 storm could have been catastrophic for Sebastian. Most people were confident that their homes would be destroyed by Matthew. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

Roads are all open except for one area north of Sebastian in Micco. There is a power line down near the Marina, but you can detour around by taking a back street.

All bridges were open this morning. The Indian River Sheriff’s Office and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office is encouraging the public to proceed with caution.

Barefoot Bay was also spared with only a few trees down. Most residents in the community have power. FPL is working on a few spots without power.

FPL trucks were seen on 512 to restore power to residents off of Laconia and Barber.

However, one-third of Indian River County residents still remain without power, according to Eric Flowers of the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.

“At this time, we do not have any boil water notices for Indian River County or Vero Beach utilities and it appears the sewer system in the county survived the storm without any major problems,” Flowers stated. “Any storm related issues or questions about road closures should be directed to the Emergency Operations Center Hotline at (772) 226-4000 until 5 P.M. today. After 5 P.M. today, storm-related questions should be referred to the main Emergency Operations Center line at (772) 567-2154. 9-1-1 should only be used for reporting emergency situations.”

Vero Beach residents are reporting some flooding in various parts of town. Most of the flood areas appear to be minimal.