The political storm that is Election Day coincided in Brevard County with an actual storm with heavy rain and flooded streets and homes.
Sheriff Wayne Ivey said they're calling it the "November Rain Storm of '26."
Some parts of southern Brevard County had more than 20 inches of rain. In the 24 hours before 2 p.m. Monday, the Melbourne area recorded more than 17 inches and Grant-Valkaria 23.6 inches, according to information from the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network.
Flash flooding especially has affected the Melbourne and Palm Bay areas. Ivey said Tuesday morning that conditions were getting better and the worst flooding was in the Lamplighter Village retirement community and Barefoot Bay.
"And I'm telling you those areas are under water," he said in a video on Facebook. "Our team's been working through the night with all of our partners to do high-water rescues and everything else out of there."
He urged people to stay away, "because we are working diligently in those areas to make sure that everybody's safe. And so far, everybody has been safe."
He reported 2,100 calls for service countywide since Monday at 8 a.m. and 204 high-water rescues.
Ivey gave a "special shout out" to a group of residents with high-water vehicles that he called "the Red Neck Rescue Unit."
He said they "brought out their swamp buggies, their hunting buggies, their side-by-sides with 42-inch tires. They responded. They didn't ask for anything except: How do we help?"
Boil water notices remained in effect in Melbourne and Palm Bay Tuesday morning. And numerous roadways were still closed.
Voting challenges
Ivey said his office has been getting "tons of questions" about Election Day.
"Is voting open? Are polls open?," he added. "Obviously, some people know their polls have been impacted. Their polling locations have been impacted."
Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic addressed those questions.
"Right now, we have six polling locations that had to be relocated due to the sites being completely unusable," Bobanic said. "Either they were completely inundated with water, with flood damage, no power or electricity."
The list and the new locations are on his website: votebrevard.gov.
"Also," he said, "if you are unable to get to your polling place, but you do have the ability to get to one of my four administrative offices. You can do an election day emergency mail ballot."
Bobanic asked voters to show "a little patience and a little grace" to election workers.
"They are working under very extreme circumstances," he said. "A lot of them had their own homes flooded out, but yet they still came in to work."
Gov. Ron DeSantis declared an emergency due to the flooding. The Florida Division of Elections lists other counties in which polling places had to be relocated. They are Broward, Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties.
