Brevard gradually returning to normal after Hurricane Matthew

Things are finally getting back to normal in Brevard in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.

Florida Power & Light said it expected to have power back on for most of its customers by Sunday night, though pockets of flooding and severe damage were likely to extend some outages until Monday, per its website.

On Monday morning, fewer than 6,000 customers still lacked power.

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Waste Management residential waste and recycling-cart services will resume on passable streets in unincorporated Brevard and the cities and towns the company serves.

It also appeared as though all county shelters set up for the hurricane would be closed Sunday, with the last remaining one, held at the Viera Regional Park Community Center, possibly set to shut down.

Not everything is quite back on track, though. Brevard Public Schools are closed Monday, which includes all before and after school activities. The hope was that BPS would resume classes Tuesday, which is when the Florida Institute of Technology will also return to school after its regularly scheduled Columbus Day holiday Monday.

Eastern Florida State College campuses will reopen Monday, and classes will resume. However, dual-enrolled students do not have to attend because BPS remains closed.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday, Melbourne officials lifted the precautionary boil water notice for the city's beachside water customers. That included communities south of the Pineda Causeway.

Cape Canaveral Hospital also remains closed, though they expect to reopen Wednesday morning.

Only 11 state parks in the state remain closed, including Sebastian Inlet State Park.

Still, the transition back to normalcy will continue in what looks like ideal weather conditions. The National Weather Service in Melbourne projects highs in the mid 80s and lows in the low 70s for the upcoming week.

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“It looks quite nice,” said Matt Bragaw, a meteorologist at the NWS in Melbourne. “It looks like we’re going to be in for several days of dry weather… We’re not really looking for much (rain) outside of a 20-30 percent chance.”

It will be rather blustery in the area, though, with a northeast flow that may not help beach erosion concerns, Bragaw noted.

Still, residents can take heart in the fact that Matthew may actually help usher in Brevard’s dry season, which Bragaw said was generally when dew points dropped below 70 points, a bit earlier than the usual mid-to-late October time period with Matthew taking some moisture out of the area.

Contact Bonanno at 321-242-3662, cbonanno@floridatoday.com or follow Chris on Twitter @FTChrisBonanno.