Palm Bay police to residents: Shelter in place

The Lorenzo. Listen, the first thing that we want to share is the unusual amount of rain that we got here in the city of Palm Bay over 18 and a half inches has devastated our community. We've had our roads washed out. So our main message is shelter in place. Please all Palm Bay citizens shelter in place. We've evacuated several people with our high water trucks and it's been a blessing. We've got three. We're requesting support of two additional ones from the Florida Department of Emergency Management. We've had water main breaks, as I mentioned, in the Port Malabar sections. All right. Roads there have been completely washed out. This is a devastation to our city. We expect those roads to be kept closed until our crews can actually assess and see how we can move forward with that. Melbourne Tillman has crested. Over its banks, as well as our Turkey Creek. Please understand that there is devastation in the city of Palm Bay. Also, I'd like to mention Fairhaven and the Palm Bay Estates are totally inaccessible. And so we're working and assessing how we're going to address those residents moving forward. All trains, all Brightline trains, all trains have stopped. They will not be used in that corridor. I want to give a shout out to all our partners, Brevard County Fire Rescue. We've also had assistance from the City of Melbourne, West Melbourne. I want to thank them. Bass Pro Shop has actually provided four boats along with those operators. That have assisted us in evacuations as well. So with that we have addressed, we'd like to get additional boats, additional high water trucks to help us continue to assist our residents from evacuation. This is a serious issue that's going on in the city of Palm Bay. Along with me, if you have any technical questions, we're willing to take some questions. But the most important thing I want to stress to all Palm Bay residents. stay and shelter in place. There's no reason to be out in the in the quarters. The waters exceed and you can't even tell when you're about on the road or if you're gonna wind up in the bank. We've had several individuals that we've had to go in and assist that way as well. Thank you. So, Palm Bay Estates are inaccessible. The Fairhaven area is totally inaccessible. Right now, we don't have any 911 calls. However, that community, you can't come in and out of. And so, that's as updated as I can give you. And we're assessing how we're going to move forward with the residents there. Some of the rain has died down. Well, that's that's the blessing, man. Let the water recedes right now. We got a forced main break that's busted. It's four feet in water and we can't send our professionals to go and fix it at this time. So once the water recedes, we'll be able to do a lot more assessment and work on those details. That's not my call. That's not my call. But it does seem that we're going to have additional rainfall. So I'm not sure how we're going to manage that. But What we need is a reprieve from the rain so that we can actually move forward and assess the damage and see how quickly we can repair that damage. Because you're right ma'am, that community of Fairhaven, we need to somehow see how we could get access to that entire community ma'am. I can get you that exact detail, but I can tell you I was out in those high water trucks and it's easy to say that without those trucks we weren't able to do anything. But there were several people, in particular the Connect Park area, I believe the Connect Road area, there were at least eight families that I remember seeing here. Well I know the Brevard County Elections Office will be assessing that and moving forward. Right now they haven't discussed any of that information with us. But those are excellent questions, so thank you. Sorry, it looks like there was a partial road collapse in part of the Malabar. Is that something that y'all look at? Yeah, Port Malabar Boulevard, as I said, that is a total, that forced main break. The roadway has been washed away. Yes, ma'am, that's absolutely right. So when you're saying washout, it's not just a flooded street, it's the road itself? Correct. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am, the road itself. Yes, ma'am. And so, again, I'm going to touch a little bit on the Fairhaven area. They are actually, there's no access to that community, and that's devastation for our city. So with that, any other questions? If you have any questions, I'd like to... Chief, anything you'd like to share before we shut down? Do you have shelters open for people? Negative. But I will say we're hoping and working closely together with Brevard County to open up these shelters because we are in dire need of those shelters. Thank you. Do you have locations in mind? That is up to Brevard County. We have made suggestions, though. That is correct. I just got off the phone with the chairman, and just so that you know, I've been in talks with Congressman Herodopoulos as well, Senator Rick Scott Stafford contacted our office, I've also spoken with Representative Monique Miller, they're all interested in what the devastation is for our city and seeing how they can roll up their sleeves and assist us as well. There could be people who went to work this morning, made it in, and are now wondering how they're going to get home. What do people do if they just can't make it? Well, we could assist individuals. Some of the homes you don't want to go into. Some of the homes really have water intrusion, so that's why we need those shelters. So, thank you all. Really, if I can only stress one thing at this time, please stay in shelter in place. There's no need for you to be traveling around, especially if you have everything at home. God bless you. Thank you. Really accept all your prayers for the city of Palm Bay.