FL

Storm restoration across Brevard County

Brevard County sits along 72 miles of Atlantic coastline with Cape Canaveral jutting directly into the open ocean, making it one of Florida's most hurricane-exposed counties with no natural barriers on the barrier islands. Storm surge is the primary life-safety threat: Hurricane Frances (2004) pushed roughly 8 feet of surge near Sebastian Inlet, Hurricane Matthew (2016) tracked almost directly up the coastline as a Category 3 and flooded all of A1A while destroying or damaging over 1,600 homes, and Hurricane Irma (2017) produced 3-5 feet of surge from Cape Canaveral northward. The Indian River Lagoon system channels surge water inland well beyond the beachfront, threatening barrier island and lagoon-side communities alike from Sebastian Inlet north through Titusville. Flooding is the county's most frequent hazard countywide due to a high water table and flat topography - Tropical Storm Fay (2008) dropped a record 27.65 inches of rain at Melbourne - and even distant landfalls such as Hurricane Ian (2022), which struck 150 miles to the southwest, still spawned tornadoes, tropical-storm-force winds, and widespread inland flooding across Palm Bay and Melbourne.