Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey talks flooding, road closures

Earlier this morning, just about an hour ago, we spoke with the Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey. So we want to show you our interview with what he had to say about these emergency floods. Take a look. Now, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey. Sheriff, first of all, thank you so much. We know how busy you are, so we really appreciate you just taking the time to fill us in on what you're seeing. Yeah, so as you guys said, you know, significant rain. A lot of our roadways are flooded down here. 192's shut down. US 1's being pretty severely impacted. The biggest thing for us right now is trying to get to those that are stranded. Our teams out working, our Brevard County Fire Rescue partners are out, all of our local police departments. Thank you. And, you know, what we're really asking people to do right now, Amy, is unless you just absolutely have to go out, please stay inside. We are expecting the rains to continue at least through the afternoon, potentially even later. We're under a flood watch till seven o'clock tonight as it sits right now. And this thing sitting on top of us, I don't see it going anywhere for the next little bit. Well, and Sheriff, I want to give you a big kudos. You came out with your message very early to knock it on the road. So bravo to you for doing that. What did you do? What are the drivers telling you who ended up getting stuck in the floodwaters? Because some of them, I mean, we've seen them go up to the windshields. Yeah, you know, depending on what type of vehicle you're driving is really how far you're going to be able to go. The biggest challenge is, you know, you can't see the road, so you don't know if there's washouts. You don't know if there's debris in the road or anything else. Even people trying to get out of their driveways, they can't even see to get out of their driveways. So you're seeing some images of the buses. That gives you an idea of how deep it is here. So, again, we're just asking everybody to stay put. That's the safest thing for everyone. Schools are closed. Thankfully, our teachers and our children are home safe and sound. The other issue that comes up is we're asking everybody to minimize water usage because as you might imagine, excuse me for just a second. Sorry about that. I was getting a call and I'm trying to fix it here. We can still hear you. You're perfect. Yeah, so the biggest challenge for everybody right now is minimize water usage, believe it or not, where our sewers are starting to back up. And the more you're using water, the more it's putting into the septic system. So just best thing to do right now is stay put. And listen, we're going to do an update here a little bit in a little bit. Myself and John Scott from the Emergency Operations Center. Sheriff, just real quick for those people who are stuck out on the roads and we're seeing that shot in Melbourne. You could just see cars backed up, you know, for 100 yards or more just sitting there. And then you've got more cars that are blocking the traffic lanes. You can't even get through. What do you want them to do in this particular case? Should they call 911? Should they wait for a high water vehicle? Yeah, you know, call 911. I can tell you our call center is receiving a lot of calls of just that nature. Call 911. We're going to try and get a high water vehicle to you, get some of our deputies to you, our fire rescue partners. But, you know, when you're in that situation, if that water starts suddenly rising, you got to get to a higher elevation, obviously, and Hopefully we're able to get to everybody before any of that happens. Wow. And Sheriff Ivey, say someone is stuck inside their home right now and they have a medical emergency or they do need help, is your same suggestion to call 911 and get some emergency help? Yeah, the same thing. Call 9-1-1. Our team's going to get to you. Luckily, the winds aren't an issue right now. So our team will get to you as quickly as they can. And, you know, we got deputies that are out responding. We brought out additional resources and we'll get to you. You let us know where you're at. And I promise you, one of us is coming. God bless you, Sheriff. It's just a scary situation for so many. And you stay safe. Nathan, of course, we really appreciate you You're taking the time to talk to us when we know how busy you are. So thank you, thank you. Yeah, I apologize for the technical problems, but yeah, thank you guys for getting the information out. We appreciate you. All right, there was Sheriff Wayne Ivey earlier. I just want to read this just to give you an idea. We keep talking about how dangerous it is to drive. Currently, every road in Palm Bay between Palm Bay Road and Grant Road, that includes Mitten, DeGroote, Eldron, Emerson, San Filippo, Jupiter, Valkyria, Waco, all of these roads are currently closed. There are no alternate ways to get around. So again, just stay home. If you have a doctor's appointment, if there's something that you had to get to today, you're just going to have to call and cancel and find another day.