Hurricane Nicole (2022) in Sebastian

Nicole came ashore on North Hutchinson Island just south of Vero Beach at about 3 a.m. EST on November 10, 2022, as a 75 mph hurricane, then moved west-northwest at 14 mph across the Florida peninsula (National Hurricane Center).

The 3 a.m. update put the minimum central pressure at 981 mb and the center near 27.6 North, 80.4 West, about 15 miles north-northwest of Fort Pierce and south of Sebastian. The hurricane center's final report later set the landfall at Vero Beach at 0745 UTC, or 2:45 a.m. EST, with 65 knot winds and 980 mb, and says Nicole weakened to a tropical storm as it moved northwestward across the peninsula (NHC Tropical Cyclone Report).

Nicole was an unusual November storm for Sebastian's coast. The same report calls its extended westward motion anomalous, with only two other November tropical cyclones north of 20 degrees North showing similar long westward tracks in the hurricane center's records: Nicole in 1998 and Kate in 1985.

NHC Advisory 14 shows how fast the threat moved on. At 10 a.m. EST Nicole was a 50 mph tropical storm about 30 miles northeast of Tampa, moving west-northwest at 16 mph; the tropical storm and storm surge warnings south of Sebastian Inlet had been dropped, and the remaining tropical storm warning ran from Sebastian Inlet north to the South Santee River in South Carolina, so Sebastian sat on the southern edge of the warned coast for the rest of November 10.

The National Weather Service recorded a 67 mph gust in Sebastian at 11 p.m. on November 9, 2022, the highest reading on the agency's Indian River County list (NWS Melbourne gust statement), and its post-storm report lists 3.16 inches of rain at a Sebastian gauge.

The airport pressure reading is the striking one. The NWS Melbourne post-tropical cyclone report lists 981.0 mb at Sebastian Municipal Airport at 3:15 a.m., the same 981 mb the hurricane center estimated for the storm at landfall. The report's Indian River County summary describes winds peaking at 60 to 70 mph along the coast and 45 to 55 mph inland, with scattered downed trees and minor structural damage, and lists zero deaths, zero injuries and zero evacuations for the county.

Nicole's damage along Sebastian's Indian River Lagoon shoreline fell on docks and marinas: the National Weather Service reports that elevated water levels and wave action along the Intracoastal waters damaged some boat docks and marinas throughout Indian River County (NWS Melbourne post-tropical cyclone report).

The report does not break that damage down by town or name individual Sebastian properties. For context, the storm surge warning from Sebastian Inlet north called for 3 to 5 feet above ground at peak surge and high tide, while the coast south of Sebastian Inlet was forecast at 1 to 3 feet (NHC Advisory 14). The hurricane center's report shows the storm surge warning from Sebastian Inlet to the Flagler/Volusia County line ending at 2100 UTC, or 4 p.m. EST, on November 10 (NHC Tropical Cyclone Report).

Nicole's storm surge and high surf caused major coastal erosion throughout Indian River County, with significant damage to dunes, beach access crossovers and boardwalks, most notably the Conn Beach boardwalk and adjacent roadway in Vero Beach (NWS Melbourne post-tropical cyclone report).

The beaches nearest Sebastian are the county's Sectors 1 and 2, which run 3.1 miles from Sebastian Inlet to the Seaview Subdivision. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection rates both as Critical Erosion Areas, and under a memorandum of understanding the Sebastian Inlet District handles management and sand bypassing on this stretch (Indian River County beach management sectors). Sector 3 continues 6.6 miles south from near Treasure Shores Beach Park, and the county's Beach Preservation Plan recommends renourishing it every 5 to 7 years.

The county's dedicated Ian and Nicole beach project was farther south. Indian River County completed the Sector 5 Hurricane Ian and Nicole Beach Restoration Project in Vero Beach in March 2026, placing 115,901 cubic yards of sand and installing 117,500 native dune plants to rebuild dunes lost in the 2022 storms, with Tracking Station Beach Park as a main construction access point (Indian River County restoration projects).

The Sebastian Inlet District rebuilt about 210 linear feet of storm-damaged north jetty revetment in a $2.5 million project launched in November 2024 and reopened on June 30, 2025, ahead of schedule (Sebastian Inlet District history).

The work used four-foot diameter granite and a steel sheet pile seawall with a concrete sidewalk deck along the portions of the Sebastian Inlet north jetty that storms had damaged. The District's history does not tie the jetty project to Nicole by name.

The District's history also heads off a common assumption about sand south of the inlet. Its two-month January 2023 placement of about 30,000 cubic yards, or about 1,760 dump truck loads, over 1.5 miles from the McLarty Treasure Museum area to a point south of Ambersand Beach was not a response to Hurricanes Nicole or Ian but bypass sand required under the Florida Beach and Shore Preservation Act.

FEMA declared major disaster DR-4680-FL for Hurricane Nicole on December 13, 2022, about five weeks after Nicole's landfall south of Sebastian, for an incident period of November 7 to 30, 2022 (FEMA).

The application period for individuals under the Nicole declaration is closed, so a Sebastian household can no longer open a new claim. FEMA's page, last updated August 5, 2026, shows $7,016,325.08 approved statewide through the Individuals and Households Program on 1,953 approved applications, and $120,108,305.67 in Public Assistance grants obligated, including $38,722,723.06 for emergency work and $75,238,758.49 for permanent work. Hazard mitigation grants under the same declaration total $14,355,834.51.

The aid figures put Nicole in proportion for Sebastian. Individual aid statewide for Nicole was a small fraction of the Public Assistance total, consistent with a storm whose damage in Indian River County fell mostly on beaches, dunes, docks and public shoreline rather than on homes.

Since Nicole, the Sebastian Inlet District has run a truck haul and beach placement project south of the inlet from fall 2024 into spring 2026 (Sebastian Inlet District).

The District reports about 135,000 cubic yards placed on the south beaches by April 2025, short of completion when sea turtle nesting season arrived. The contractor remobilized in November 2025 to dredge another 130,000 cubic yards from the inlet channel and sand trap for the beaches south of Sebastian Inlet, plus about 40,000 cubic yards for the District's dredged materials management area on the north side. The District, created May 23, 1919, works from 114 Sixth Avenue, Indialantic, telephone (321) 724-5175.

Access is changing too. Sebastian Inlet State Park posted that construction on the Sebastian Inlet bridge was scheduled to begin in May 2026, warning of traffic congestion, possible changes at the campground entrance and no beach access from the south side during the work. The park remains open 24 hours, $8 per vehicle. Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the Sebastian Inlet District and Florida State Parks websites.