INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Rainfall this week helped ease the intense heat, decreasing chances of any uncontrollable wildfires turning up to scorch the county, officials said. Now, authorities have lifted the burn ban for Indian River County as the intermittent showers were expected to continue into next week.
Indian River County officials issued a notice on Friday that the May 7 burn ban was no longer active.
“Over the past several days, all areas of the county have received significant amounts of rainfall and the threat posed to the health, safety and welfare of our citizens and the property of Indian River County is greatly reduced, therefore I am exercising my authority to lift the burn ban effective immediately,” county administrator John Titkanich said in an email.
Vero Beach received nearly 2 inches of rainfall this week, while areas in south county got up to 5 inches and parts in north county recorded less than an inch, said Jared Heil, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne.
“The southern part of the county picked up most of the rain,” Heil said.
Areas in southern Florida are recovering after being hit with severe flooding this week.
Invest 90L, a low-pressure storm, trekked across the Florida Peninsula on Tuesday, bringing 10-to-15 inches of heavy rainfall – mostly in the southern portion of the state. Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday declared a state of emergency for Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade and Sarasota counties after flood waters covered major interstates and roadways.
Invest 90L is now offshore, according to National Weather Service officials. The showers pouring across Indian River County are normal for this time of year and not connected to Invest 90L, Heil said.
Vero Beach will have a 50 percent chance of storms Friday evening, 60 percent for Saturday and 40 percent Sunday. Saturday will be mostly cloudy and Sunday will be partly sunny.
Temperatures for this week and next week were forecast to be in the high 80s, which will dip to the mid-70s in the evenings.
Monday and Tuesday will have a 50 percent chance of rain, with sunny days and cloudy nights. Wednesday – the Juneteenth Holiday – will be mostly sunny with a 60 percent chance of rain.
Thursday and Friday will be sunny with a 70 percent chance of rain, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne.