Treasure Coast update as we get back to normal!

TreasureCoast, Fl- Hurricane Dorian continues to march up the east coast. As of the 5am update, Dorian remains a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105mph. The eye is about 90 miles east of Daytona Beach and moving north, northwest at 8mph. Our area is now no longer under a hurricane or tropical storm warning. It will remain breezy today, but the weather should start to return to normal. The Treasure Coast largely avoided the worst of the storm, but areas near the coast did have to deal with flooding and erosion at the beaches is expected to be a major problem in the weeks ahead. The mandatory evacuations have been lifted.

Many headed out to the beaches yesterday to catch the high winds and surf.

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Businesses started opening up again yesterday as the worst of Hurricane Dorian moved out of our area. .

Schools in Martin and St Lucie county will remain closed today, but are scheduled to open back up tomorrow. Indian River county schools are scheduled to open on Friday.

The St Lucie County landfill is closed for today as officials work to return the area to normal. Trash and waste services will resume in both Martin and St Lucie counties starting tomorrow, following normal schedules.

Florida Power & Light says that Dorian did bring scattered outages to our area. At one point last night over 1,000 customers in St Lucie County were without power, but FPL crews were able to immediately begin working on getting the power back on. And as of 5 am this morning that number was down to 19 in St Lucie County. Martin County has about 120 without power. There are 567 reported outages in Indian River County, and just 1 in Okeechobee county. Statewide over 10,000 customers are without power.

Traffic lights were also out at some intersections. Remember that if an intersection doesn’t have any signal lights it should be treated as a 4-way stop. If the lights are flashing red, it should be treated as a stop sign. If the lights are flashing yellow, drivers should proceed with caution only when traffic permits.

The Post Office is set to resume normal operations today. Mail services had been suspended because of the storm. Other government agencies are set to resume normal operations today as well, including the City of Stuart, and the city of Port St Lucie. The city of Fort Pierce is expected to reopen their facilities tomorrow. Martin County facilities are closed through today as well. The Marty public transit system is expected to resume services tomorrow.

Water service was restored to Hutchinson Island residents in Martin County. A boil water advisory is in effect until further notice.

Hurricane Dorian brought more than strong winds and rough waves to South Florida. It also brought a new bundle of joy for a Port St. Lucie couple. Baby Samuel was born on Tuesday at 1:05 a.m. at St. Lucie Medical Center. The baby boy is a healthy 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and 20 inches long. His proud parents, Cecilia and Brian Chin, are doing well at the medical center and are thrilled that through the storm they were able to expand their family.

A suspected drunk driver crashed head-on into a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office deputy Tuesday morning. The collision happened on Sunrise Boulevard near Ponce de Leon Prada in Fort Pierce around 5am as the deputy patrolled an area known to be prone to flooding. The deputy was operating a high water Humvee at the time. Sheriff Ken Mascara said the vehicle driver was drunk, and had admitted to drinking and smoking weed all night. The driver also had a suspended license. The deputy was hospitalized with non life-threatening injuries. The driver also received non life-threatening injuries.

Emergency shelters are shutting down. Overall, over 500 people stayed in St Lucie shelters, while over 1,300 stayed in Martin County shelters. The brand new pet shelter in Martin County had a successful debut, with 44 people and over 20 pets riding out the storm there.

While Florida was largely spared from the worst of Dorian, the Bahamas took the brunt of it. Now, several groups and organizations are already gathering supplies to help assist the victims. Groups like the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army are gathering supplies, as is the City of Stuart. Items can be dropped off at the Stuart Police Department on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd from 9am to 5pm today, and tomorrow from 9am to 4pm. The donated items will be brought to the Bahamas on Friday. Items to donate include nonperishable food, water, baby supplies, pet food, hygiene products, solar phone chargers, and bug spray. Please do not donate expired or unusable items.

Stuart Police helped secure a boat after the anchors had broken loose during the storm. The boat then drifted into the pier in Downtown Stuart. There was no damage to the pier, boat, nor any injuries to the owner or his dog. Officers were able to find the owner and his dog shelter for the night.