Fay Floods Hospital Emergency Room Entrance; Patients Diverted

ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- Rising waters from Tropical Storm Fay flooded a Central Florida hospital's emergency room entrance and forced officials to divert patients away from the facility Thursday night.

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"This is definitely something we consider very serious," Florida Hospital Fish Memorial Administrator Joe Johnson said. "We are looking at an 'all hands on deck' kind of thing where we call in extra help. This is not something you see every day."

Rising waters cut off access to the emergency room and filled the entrance.

"Because of the flooding and debris that is clogging our access to the campus we have asked the county to divert patients from coming to us for a while through the ambulance system,' Johnson said.

Johnson said waters from surrounding areas rushed through the hospital campus like rivers and to the building.

Officials were considering moving patients to higher floors to escape the water.

"We want to make sure everything on the lowest floors is protected," Florida Hospital Fish Memorial Administer Joe Johnson said. "We got a lot of supplies and equipment. So, patients can be moved up to higher floors if necessary. But clearly, if there is any danger that is the first thing we will do. Get them out if necessary."

Existing patients were still being treated at the hospital but Johnson said they could be moved if waters continued to rise.

Sewage Waters Fill Neighborhoods

Flood victims of Tropical Storm Fay were warned about rivers of raw sewage possibly flowing through some Florida neighborhoods.

The state's surgeon general, Ana Viamonte Ros, notified Floridians Thursday about fecal matter danger created by the stalled weather system.

"We just wanted to reiterate again the importance of making sure children do not play in flooded areas," Viamonte Ros said. "We have had reports of raw sewage in some of these flooded plains. Please make sure children (stay out) because there could be downed powered lines (and) there is sewage."

Septic tanks flowed over in a subdivision in Merritt Island and leaked into streets near the Colony Park subdivision.

Several adults and parents were videotaped swimming in the streets during a Local 6 report.

It's like swimming in a toilet and it's very dangerous, Local 6's Jessica D'Onofrio reported.

Officials warned that within the sewage water is harmful bacteria and viruses that pose threats.

State officials warned about West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne illness in connection with Fay floodwaters.

The Department of Health recommends you avoid the outdoors during dusk and dawn, wear clothing that covers skin and to use Deet as a repellant.

"Remember as well there are potentially dangerous wild animals that will seek higher ground so beware of those as well," Ros said.

"Most deaths that occur in storms are because of flooding," Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp said Thursday.

The reference is to water moccasins, other snakes and alligators, Local 6's Steven Cooper reported.

The Department of Health said residents should not wade through standing water. If residents must wade through floodwater, they are urged to bath and put on clean clothes afterward.

Gov. Crist Tours Flooded Cities

Initial damage estimates for a one of the most flooded cities in Central Florida will top $10 million and leave hundreds of homes with water damage.

Several hundred homes in Melbourne have three to four feet of standing water inside of them Thursday after days of pounding rain from Tropical Storm Fay, Local 6's News partner Florida Today reported.

The city of Melbourne's emergency manager said the $10 to $12 million damage estimate does not include the Lamplighter Village community -- which is submerged under chest-high water.

Gov. Charlie Crist toured Lamplighter Village -- a community of 600 homes near Interstate 95 -- in a swamp buggy.

"I couldn't believe all of the water," Crist said.

Crist said the area is the worse hit -- by far, Local 6's Adam Longo reported.

"We've lived through several hurricanes and (I have seen) nothing like this," flood victim Timothy Tucker said.

There is still about four or five feet of standing water in and around Lamplighter homes.

"I saw water in my house and I'm like, 'Oh my God,'" Lamplighter Village resident Wayne Wyckoff said. "Cars were stuck and wreckers were pulling them out and I knew that I was going to lose everything. Everything is flooded. I lost everything."

The National Guard has been the only personnel allowed into the subdivision to help the remaining people still inside their homes.

There are five shelters in the county with about 106 people inside. However, the number was expected to grow Thursday night.

Also, the Department of Natural Resources said a preliminary estimate of damage to the Brevard County beaches is about $2.6 million.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.