Hurricane Shelters in Sebastian, Florida

Indian River County lists four general hurricane shelters with Sebastian addresses, Sebastian Elementary, Sebastian River Middle, Sebastian River High and Pelican Island Elementary, plus the county special needs shelter at Treasure Coast Elementary.

All of them are public school campuses named on the primary shelter list in the county's Official Disaster Preparedness Guide, and the Indian River County Emergency Management page also links a Public Shelters List / Map (Indian River County Emergency Management). The county groups 13 general shelters into South, Central and North County, and the north group closest to Sebastian also includes Fellsmere Elementary and Storm Grove Middle.

The guide places Treasure Coast Elementary on County Road 510 just southeast of Sebastian River High School, so two of the Sebastian shelters sit close together on the north county road grid. The pet friendly shelter is the only special shelter outside Sebastian, at Liberty Magnet School in Vero Beach.

Sebastian shelters open only when Indian River County activates them for a specific storm, and on October 14, 2026 the county listed every evacuation shelter as closed.

The county Storm Center page shows shelter status next to evacuation orders and bridge status; that day it read Evacuation Shelters: Closed, with no evacuation orders and the Emergency Operations Center at Level 3, normal operations (Indian River County Storm Center). The county list warns that shelters do not open at the same time and that some may not open at all, so a storm can bring Sebastian River Middle School online while Pelican Island Elementary stays shut (county shelter list).

The Emergency Management page also links an Active Public Emergency Shelters Map and the Alert Indian River Emergency Notification System (Indian River County Emergency Management). The county guide adds an Emergency Services Public Information Line, 772-226-3927, activated during disasters. The City of Sebastian points storm callers to its Citizens Request Line at 772-581-0111, which the city notes is not manned 24/7, and to Indian River County Emergency Services at 772-226-3900 (City of Sebastian).

Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the Indian River County website.

Indian River County general shelters such as Sebastian River High School take anyone who is self-sufficient in daily activities, and evacuees bring their own bedding, chairs and supplies.

The county guide says regular public shelters have nursing personnel and volunteers to help evacuees on arrival, and that people with decreased mobility but no other medical problems are provided for in the regular shelters. People who need outside professional help for daily life are referred to the special needs shelter or a health care facility (Indian River County guide).

The guide's evacuation list for a Sebastian family heading to a school gym covers pillows, blankets, sleeping bags or air mattresses; extra clothing, shoes and eyeglasses; folding chairs, lawn chairs or cots; personal hygiene items; quiet games, books and toys for children; and important papers. A public shelter is the last choice on the county's list of where to go, after a friend or relative and a hotel or motel.

Staying home is an option where no order applies. The Florida Division of Emergency Management says that if an evacuation order is not issued for an area, residents may consider sheltering in place, a choice that applies to Sebastian homes outside any ordered zone.

The special needs shelter for all of Indian River County is Treasure Coast Elementary School at 8955 85th Street in Sebastian, and it serves only people registered in advance.

Indian River County Emergency Management registers every client. When the shelter opens, it is staffed jointly by the county Fire Rescue Division, the Indian River County School District and the Indian River County Health Department (Indian River County special needs page). Since January 2025 the registration form has been online through the Florida Department of Health; people without a computer can call 772-226-3900 for a paper copy. The state Florida Special Needs Registry is shared between the Department of Health and each county emergency management agency, so a Sebastian registration lands with Indian River County planners.

The guide lists examples of eligible candidates: people who are electric dependent, on dialysis, oxygen dependent, using a nebulizer or in hospice care. Residents of adult living facilities and nursing homes are not eligible because they are legally required to follow their facility's own evacuation plan. Clients bring bedding, medications, oxygen equipment, linens, pillows, blankets, chairs and medical supplies, while the county supplies emergency oxygen and first aid equipment (Indian River County guide).

Rides need the same advance step. Preregistration is required for transportation to a general shelter or the pet friendly shelter, according to the county special needs page, and the guide says there are no guaranteed pickups for last minute requests once an evacuation order is issued. Indian River County asks for registration before hurricane season, not as a storm nears Sebastian.

Indian River County has one pet friendly hurricane shelter, Liberty Magnet School at 6850 81st Street in Vero Beach, south of County Road 510 and west of 66th Avenue.

The county designates the school as its pet friendly evacuation shelter, run by Emergency Services with help from the Animal Control Division, and treats it like other shelters as a last resort (Indian River County pet shelter page). Owners bring a crate large enough for bedding, a litter pan, food and water, and show proof of a current rabies vaccination and a county license where one applies. Space goes first come, first served.

The county guide limits the shelter to dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and small rodents, and to residents of an evacuation area: the barrier island, mobile and manufactured homes, east of U.S. 1, areas known to flood and substandard housing. For Sebastian that means riverfront households along Indian River Drive and the mobile home parks qualify, while owners remain responsible for the care of their animals and supply their own food, carriers and medication (Indian River County guide).

The Indian River County shelter list is a page inside an undated preparedness guide, and its Sebastian details differ slightly between the map and the printed list.

The map legend on page 42 of the county guide gives Sebastian Elementary as 400 Sebastian Blvd, while the shelter list on the next page gives 400 County Road 512; the two names describe the same Sebastian corridor. The same guide gives the Humane Society number for pet shelter questions as 772-388-3331, Ext. 133 on its pets page and Ext. 10 on the shelter list.

The guide also carries no print date, so the live Active Public Emergency Shelters Map on the Indian River County Emergency Management page is the source to trust once a storm approaches Sebastian; the printed list shows which campuses can open, not which ones have.