Hurricane Shelters — Indian River County, Florida

As of October 12, 2026, the Indian River County public shelters layer lists 15 school campuses as designated hurricane shelters, eight in its North County area and seven in central and south Vero Beach.

A designation is a plan, not an opening. The county's shelter map layer lists every campus with its address, its part of the county, its role and a listed capacity, (county public shelters layer), while the county Emergency Management page keeps a separate Active Public Emergency Shelters Map (Indian River County Emergency Management). The North County group covers Sebastian River Middle, Sebastian River High, Sebastian Elementary, Pelican Island Elementary and Treasure Coast Elementary in Sebastian, Fellsmere Academy on N Cypress Street in Fellsmere, and Liberty Magnet and Storm Grove Middle on the north edge of Vero Beach.

The Central County group is in and around Vero Beach proper: Vero Beach Middle on 19th Street, Vero Beach Elementary on 12th Street, Glendale Elementary on 8th Street and Gifford Middle on 28th Court (county public shelters layer). The South County group sits along 20th Avenue SW and 20th Street SW: Osceola Magnet, its Annex B on 18th Avenue SW and Indian River Academy. Two campuses carry new names on the layer, Fellsmere Academy (formerly Fellsmere Elementary) and Vero Beach Middle (formerly the V.B.H.S. Freshman Learning Center).

Six campuses carry Wave 1 on the county layer, Sebastian River Middle, Fellsmere Academy, Treasure Coast Elementary, Liberty Magnet, Vero Beach Middle and Osceola Magnet, with a combined listed capacity of 6,311 spaces.

The layer's OPEN_ORDER field sorts the 14 campuses that have a capacity value into three waves (county public shelters layer). Wave 1 places one general population campus in each part of the county, Sebastian River Middle (1,499) in the north, Vero Beach Middle (1,499) in the center and Osceola Magnet (2,139) in the south, plus Fellsmere Academy (490) in the city of Fellsmere. Wave 2 adds Vero Beach Elementary (2,093), Annex B (1,109) and Gifford Middle (327).

Wave 3 brings in the remaining Sebastian schools: Sebastian River High (1,747), Sebastian Elementary (1,470) and Pelican Island Elementary (1,047), along with Indian River Academy (1,009) and Glendale Elementary (191) in Vero Beach (county public shelters layer). Summed, the listed capacities come to 15,304 spaces. Storm Grove Middle School at 6400 57th Street appears as a public school and shelter with no wave and no capacity yet.

The county shelter layer names Vero Beach Middle School at 1507 19th Street as the pet friendly shelter, with Liberty Magnet School at 6850 81st Street as the secondary pet site, both listed for Wave 1.

The two pet sites differ in size. Vero Beach Middle is listed as a general population and pet friendly shelter with 1,499 spaces, while Liberty Magnet, on the North County side of Vero Beach, has 184 (county public shelters layer). The layer attaches the same note to both: first come, first serve, limited space, shelter of last resort, with (772) 226-3900 as the number for questions.

The county's separate Pet Evacuation Shelter page, also checked on October 12, 2026, still names Liberty Magnet School as the county's pet-friendly evacuation shelter and says the Emergency Services Department runs it with help from the Animal Control Division (Indian River County Pet Evacuation Shelter page). Until the two county sources match, the active shelters map posted for a given storm is the place to confirm which Vero Beach campus takes animals (Indian River County Emergency Management).

Owners heading to either Vero Beach site need gear and paperwork. Each owner needs a crate roomy enough for the animal's bedding, a litter pan and its food and water, and must show a current rabies vaccination record and, where one applies, a county license (Pet Evacuation Shelter page). Places are filled in order of arrival.

Treasure Coast Elementary School at 8955 85th Street in Sebastian is the county's designated special needs shelter, a Wave 1 site with 500 listed spaces on the county shelter layer, and the county's Special Needs Shelter page says preregistration is required.

Three agencies run the Sebastian site. The county's Special Needs Shelter page describes an activated special needs shelter as a combined effort of the Indian River County Health Department, the Fire Rescue Division and the county School District, with the Emergency Management Division assigned to register all potential clients (Indian River County Special Needs Shelter page). The same preregistration also covers anyone who needs county transportation to a general population shelter or to the pet friendly shelter.

Registration moved online in January 2025, on a Florida Department of Health form, and a paper form can be requested at 772-226-3900 (Special Needs Shelter page). County medical staff screen each application against what the Sebastian shelter can provide, and an applicant whose needs exceed it may be referred to a local hospital instead. The county warns that there will be no time to register once a storm is approaching Indian River County.

The Florida Department of Health in Indian River County describes the shelter as being for people with disabilities or who require medical care that exceeds basic first aid, and lists staffing it during a hurricane among its duties (Florida Department of Health in Indian River County). Its preparedness office is at 772-794-7479. The county shelter layer itself carries a softer note for Treasure Coast Elementary, saying pre-registration is suggested but not required, with (772) 226-4000 as a second number (county public shelters layer).

The registry is set by state law. Section 252.355 of the Florida Statutes has the Division of Emergency Management keep a registry of persons with special needs together with each local emergency management agency, which in this county is the office on 43rd Avenue in Vero Beach (Section 252.355, Florida Statutes). Registration records are confidential, and each electric utility must remind residential customers about the program on or before May 31 every year.

Indian River County Emergency Management, at the Emergency Operations Center at 4225 43rd Avenue in Vero Beach, phone (772) 226-3900, is the county office behind the shelter list, and its page links both the Public Shelters List and an Active Public Emergency Shelters Map.

The Emergency Operations Center keeps no public hours, according to the county facilities layer, so the phone line and county announcements are the contact points (Indian River County facilities layer). The same 226-3900 number appears on the shelter layer for the Vero Beach Middle, Liberty Magnet and Treasure Coast Elementary entries (county public shelters layer).

The county's Emergency Management pages link a Public Shelters List and Map, the Pet Evacuation Shelter and the Special Needs Shelter, and its online services menu includes a shelter transportation request (Indian River County Emergency Management). Because the 15 campuses from Sebastian to the South County are sorted into opening waves, the active shelters map for a given storm, not the designation table, shows which ones are in use. Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the Indian River County website.