Brevard County resumes its routines in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian

For many residents of Brevard County, Friday was a day when it was time to return to normality after days of watching predicted storm tracks for Hurricane Ian, then experiencing the heavy rains and winds it brought to the Space Coast.

It was a time to return to work; to take down storm shutters; to clear fallen palm fronds from the backyard; and to shop for groceries (not just water and hurricane snacks) for the week ahead. Some people even headed to the beach or a local park.

Brevard County government offices reopened at 8 a.m. Friday, and Space Coast Area Transit resumed its regular bus service. Waste Management began collecting trash again. The last of the 218 people (and 29 pets) who took refuge at one of the county's storm shelters in Melbourne, Sharpes and West Melbourne, cleared out of the facilities Friday morning.

Many stores and restaurants reopened, welcoming patrons who were cooped up in their homes during the storm.

Path of storm helped us: Space Coast Hurricane Ian impact: Brevard public safety director says, 'We're very fortunate'

Trash collection starts up again: Waste Management trash collection in Brevard resumes

Still, the storm didn't leave the county unscathed. Brevard County Communications Director Don Walker said the county already has received 450 responses from residents, reporting damage to their properties, with more reports expected to come in during the days ahead.

Residents try to move ahead

At Wickham Park in Melbourne, some standing water remained, but the park appeared to be mostly unscathed. People jogged, walked and rode their bikes in the morning sun.

Michele Straney was walking her dog, Maggie, as she does every morning.

“It’s pretty much back to normal for me,” Straney said. “I hope it gets that way for everyone soon.”

Her uncle has a house in Fort Myers and returned to it Friday morning. His boat is gone, she said — it just floated away.

“I guess in the grand scheme of things, losing your boat is a lot better than losing your house,” Straney said.

Across the park, workers were busy replacing picnic tables and trash cans.

In downtown Melbourne, American Business Interiors employee Blane Herndon gathered up fallen palm fronds from Waverly Place parking spaces fronting his building and loaded them onto a red wheeled cart.

“I was more concerned about the tornadoes. The wind got up pretty high, but I didn’t lose no power — no nothing,” he said.

Herndon, an ABI furniture installer and warehouse worker, lives in West Melbourne, about 3 miles from the business.

“Everybody that pitches in can help,” he said of the Ian cleanup effort, fallen palm frond in hand.

Despite the bad weather experienced throughout the state and much of Brevard County, Ann Trementozzi said her family didn’t have any issues as Tropical Storm Ian passed through the Space Coast.

“We were very fortunate, as we had no damage to our home or yard, no water issues, and did not lose power,” Trementozzi said.

Trementozzi — who lives in southeast Palm Bay with her husband, Joe, and daughter, Beth Ann — said they didn’t put up shutters prior to the hurricane.

“We took minimal safety precautions, such as bringing in all items from our yard and patio,” she said. “We then kept the atmosphere of our home light, so not to add to the emotion concerns of our daughter, who has disabilities.”

Trementozzi said she and her family feels fortunate that, although the eye of the storm passed by closer than initially predicted, it didn’t cause damage to their home.

“So many were not as fortunate, and their lives are turned upside down right now,” she said.

As the storm swept across Brevard on Thursday, Heather and Jeff Lee of Cocoa Beach watched the canal behind their riverside home climb over the piling and claim their backyard.

"Three- to 4-foot waves came up off the canal," Jeff Lee said. "The water got pretty high, in the back and the front."

Their dock washed away in the storm, Heather Lee said. The water came close to the house, but never in it, they said.

By Friday, they were out for a stroll along Ocean Beach Boulevard, taking pictures of surfers and enjoying the unseasonably cool morning air.

Brevard got lucky, they said.

"Very lucky, compared to the west coast," Jeff Lee said.

Melbourne resident Virginia Irwin was going through her first hurricane, after moving here a year ago from Pennsylvania, where blizzards were the big weather concern.

"It was my first experience" with hurricanes, Irwin said. "I didn't know quite what to expect. I'm not going to lie. It was kind of scary."

But, looking back on the experience as she was doing grocery shopping in Suntree, Irwin said: "I'm very relieved. Things are getting back to normal. I have a lot less stress now that it's passed. It's beautiful out today."

Melbourne resident Mary Sausville was more experienced at the hurricane routine, and was ready for the storm.

“I am always prepared," Sausville said. "I always have a hurricane box. I always have batteries, lighters, a hatchet, candles, a battery-operated transistor radio and battery-operated cell phone charger. I have been here a long time.”

Now that the storm is over, Sausville said, "I am going to go to the beach … because I have a friend in from out of state.”

Stacy Freeman of Melbourne said she was looking forward to returning to a regular routine after the storm.

“I am going back to normal," said Freeman, a restaurant employee. "I am walking my dog and going to work. I will be working until 7 p.m. I will come home, walk my dog, eat dinner, probably some laundry, and spend some time at home.”

Some aren't as lucky

Although most of the county was returning to normal, people in certain North Brevard neighborhoods were waiting for the flooding to drain and worrying about what the next storm might bring.

In the northern end of the county, many low-lying neighborhoods west of Carpenter Road south of State Road 46 saw rampant flooding.

In some areas, whole streets or sections of streets were under several feet of water as nearby stormwater ditches and ponds were too saturated to take on the extra rain from Ian.

The sight of young men in four-wheelers and kids with inner tubes and pool floats was not uncommon after the worst of the flooding.

Lee Corbridge said he has seen the stormwater runoff ditches full plenty of times before major storms, but doesn't have any memory of the streets off Lantern Drive being as flooded as they were after Ian.

"I remember Hurricane David in 1979. It was overflowing, and it was never, ever, ever like this," Corbridge said.

Corbridge's nephew was riding a four-wheeler around the neighborhood, checking out the flooding and checking in on neighbors. But he wasn't too concerned or freaked out by what he saw, even if he said it could prevent people from getting in and out of their streets without large trucks.

Danny Barfield lives in one of the homes that was slightly more elevated.

"It's pretty bad," Barfield said, pointing at his street covered in nearly a foot of water.

He said he has been providing assistance to some of his older neighbors who may have a more difficult time getting in and out of the neighborhood.

He said, if the flooding were worse, the neighborhood could have a situation where things are much worse and people are trapped in their homes.

"When it rains this much, there's not a lot you can do," Barfield said, pointing out that the recent heavy rains set this storm up to be particularly bad in terms of flooding.

Kim Akins, a resident of Aurantia Road in Mims, where several homes have flooded property, isn't happy, either.

“It’s a nightmare," Akins said. "We now have lakefront property with a dock. I always wanted lakefront property. But not like this.”

Walker said Brevard County has begun its initial analysis of damage from Ian.

"Hurricane Ian took no less than three swipes at us — first with the storm passing over Brevard County in the morning hours of Thursday; a second time after it went off our coastline, regained hurricane strength in the Atlantic and then hit us late in the day with stout wind gusts and more rain; and then a third time with a coastal flood warning that will continue through 2 a.m. Saturday," Walker said.

"We have already begun damage assessments in a variety of areas, including infrastructure — roads, lift stations — parks, facilities and beaches, and also have reached out to residents to send us pictures and damage reports from their own properties," Walker said.

But Walker noted that Friday was a day that could have been a lot worse, had Ian brought more rain and wind to Brevard than it did.

"We woke up this morning mostly intact, and with cooler temperatures and a forecast of bright, sunny days through the weekend, and that’s a gift we should not take for granted," Walker said Friday. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to our neighboring counties that were devastated by Hurricane Ian."

The National Weather Service in Melbourne apparently was tired of Ian as well. In its Friday morning summary, meteorologists there noted that, as of 11 p.m. Thursday, "we (mostly) said good riddance to Hurricane Ian, with the cancellation of the last tropical storm warnings over land for Brevard and Volusia counties."

They cautioned, though, that "dangerous winds and seas" remained offshore, there was a high risk of rip current at the beaches, and there remained threats of coastal flooding through Friday night.

More than half of Florida Power & Light Co.'s Brevard County customers were without power during at least part of the storm period, with 171,500 customers experiencing an outage.

But, by Friday morning, power had been restored to 120,980 of them, with the other 50,520 still waiting.

For most Brevard residents, Friday brought relief and anticipation of a stress-free weekend.

Pete Gardner of Suntree was taking a break from his freight-forwarding business, walking around his neighborhood.

"We were very fortunate," Gardner said, reflecting on how bad things could have been.

He was prepared for worse, saying: "It's preparation that you have to be ready for."

Then, Gardner looked to the sky on this clear, rain-free, wind-free day, and added: "The sun. It's beautiful to see it today." 

Ralph Chapoco, Bailey Gallion, Rick Neale, Eric Rogers, Tim Shortt and Finch Walker contributed to this story.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bydaveberman.

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To report damage

Brevard County residents are encouraged to complete a damage report if their property or home has been damaged as a result of Tropical Storm Ian.

This includes water in your home, roof or structure damage.

Residents should be prepared to provide the address of the property, name and photos of the damage incurred.

A link ink to damage reporting form: https://www.crisistrack.com/public/brevardFL/request.html

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard County resumes its routines with Hurricane Ian out of the area