Storm takes out buildings, boats and trees in Brevard
As the sun rose Monday, Clyde Abercrombie poured himself a rum and Coke to celebrate living through Hurricane Irma’s wrath.
He had spent the night rocking back and forth in his 25-foot sailboat, 70 mph winds at times nearly knocking the vessel on its side at SunDance Marine in Palm Shores.
As he peeked out from the cabin, Abercrombie, 62, saw what was left of the marina. Eight boats had capsized. One sailboat mast was cracked in half. Bathroom sinks, cleaning supplies and cushions were scattered along the edge of the harbor along with slabs of wood from what used to be a dock.
“I lost a canopy, but I’m alive … so here’s to Irma," he said holding up his cup and taking a sip.
Much of Brevard County was ravaged by the storm, leaving many without electricity and nearly half the county’s 579,000 residents without running water.
Officials say the water outage is likely the result of a water-main break or several breaks, but they have been unable to locate the problem.
County spokesman Don Walker said they hope to have repairs done by today, but residents will still be on a boil-water notice for at least two days.
The damage was widespread, with four reported tornadoes and flooding across the county, including ankle-deep water in some west Cocoa homes, he said.
“It’s going to take days and weeks and months to really get a sense of the damage, but it’s clear that this is going to be much worse than what we saw last year in Matthew,” Walker said. “It’s going to be much more costly because it touched so many areas with a variety of issues.”
Christel Bailey, 32, stayed with a friend in Titusville to ride out the storm, but even before much of Irma’s wind and rain had arrived, flooding started in the Ivanhoe Estates neighborhood off U.S. Highway 50.
Water flooded the porch and was inches from the front door when neighbors started digging a trench, sending the accumulation downhill.
“They literally saved the day,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bailey grabbed an empty paint bucket and started scooping and pouring from the other end of the porch.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” she said. “It was starting to seep inside, and we put down towels to prevent coming inside.”
The flooding left drivers on U.S. 1 trying to maneuver through more than a foot of water in Rockledge. A Cocoa Beach police officer also attempted to drive through but turned around as the level reached her car door.
Back at SunDance Marine, Abercrombie saw that his friend Henry Lock’s boat was still afloat, but the dock he uses to get ashore was demolished. He had to rescue him.
A few minutes later, Lock got out of his sailboat and raised his fist in a gesture of victory. He got into a blue kayak and paddled to Abercrombie’s boat.
“You made it!” Abercrombie said.
“Of course, but a lot of them didn’t,” Lock replied as the two surveyed the damage.
Officials continued to be inundated Monday with calls from residents reporting damage from winds and widespread flooding. Crisis Cleanup is operating a hotline, 800-451-1954, for Brevard residents to request help with cleanup. For information on other sources of assistance in Brevard, dial 211. it from