Port seeks $7.5M in FEMA aid for Hurricane Matthew damage

Port Canaveral is seeking $7.5 million in assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to repair damage to port facilities caused by Hurricane Matthew earlier this month.

The damage included: roof damage and leaks at cruise terminals, warehouses and other structures; damage to awnings and signs; sand buildup in the port navigation channel; and damage along the side of State Road 401, not far from the entrances to the port's north side cruise terminals.

Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer John Murray briefed Canaveral Port Authority commissioners on the damage this week.

Brevard eligible to apply for Matthew-related FEMA assistance

The figures do not include damage to Cove-area restaurants and other buildings on port property that are the responsibility of the tenants themselves.

Murray said two "derelict boats that broke loose during the storm" in the port channel contributed to some of the dockside damage. The boats should not have been at the port in the first place, because there was an evacuation order in place for boats, and the boats were "inadequately secured for the storm."

Bill Crowe, the port's senior director of facilities, construction and engineering, said initial estimates indicate there was about 200,000 cubic yards of storm-related shoaling at the main harbor entrance to the channel.

The shoaling has not resulted in any ship restrictions, since it's on the edges of the main channel, and the depth of the channel is at about 44 feet.

Port Environmental Director Bob Musser Jr. said projects will be undertaken to increase the channel depth back to its target of 46 feet.

Among other impacts of the storm on Port Canaveral:

• The Jetty Park campground will remain closed until Nov. 5 to allow for post-storm debris cleanup, and the Jetty Park fishing pier will be closed until repairs are made, with no reopening date established yet. The restaurant at Jetty Park also remains closed.

Beachside Brevard properties threatened by dune damage

• Due to storm-related delays, renovations on Cruise Terminal 8, used by Disney Cruise Line, will be pushed back slightly to the end of this month.

• The port's newest cruise terminal, Cruise Terminal 1, near the port's Cove area, needed 150 patches to repair damage on its roof, much of it caused by items that were blown across the roof during the storm.

Murray cited a "real team effort" by port staff, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, Canaveral Fire Rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard, port tenants and contractors in enabling the port to reopen in the early afternoon of Oct. 8, just a day after Hurricane Matthew passed offshore.

"We had a lot of boots on the ground, first thing," getting the port ready to reopen, Murray said. "That was a phenomenal turn in 24 hours to have the port back to normal operations."

He said the port has started an "after-action review" to determine things that went right and wrong in the hurricane response, and to determine what can be done better next time.

"There were a lot of lessons learned," Murray said, among them, making sure to better secure port property that can be blown around during a storm and ensuring that all privately owned boats are out of the port's marinas.

The safest place for a boat in a hurricane is on land and securely latched  — "never in the water," where it could become a "floating projectile," Murray said.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByDaveBerman and on Facebook at facebook.com/dave.berman.54