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© Tim Shortt/Florida TodayCars parked across from Melbourne High near Percepta and Old School Pizza, were affected by record rainfall Thursday afternoon and flooding.
An afternoon deluge in Melbourne shattered rainfall records and brought particular headaches to employees of a Babcock Street office building when they discovered their parked cars underwater.

In about 45 minutes, the previous daily rainfall record of 1.48 inches was eclipsed. By 4 p.m., 2.26 inches had come down, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne. More is likely today.

Employees at Percepta, a customer service center on South Babcock Street in Melbourne, emerged to find their parking lot flooded.

Josephine Miller said her car, along with five others she saw, had standing water in them.

"It rains and the parking lot floods every once in a while," said Miller. "Nothing like we've seen today, though."


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© Tim Shortt/Florida TodayPercepta co-workers were among the group who arrived to help Josephine Miller, (wearing blue, at right) get her Nissan Altima out of the water.
The employees were dismissed early as another band of storms approached. They banded together to help each other out, Miller adds.

"We all got buckets. We cleaned it out," said Miller. "(...)Everybody pulled together once again like a family. I absolutely love the people that I work with."

Melbourne Airport also recorded a 48 mph wind gust in association with a storm, they added.

More rain appears likely for the Space Coast today with the NWS projecting a 60 percent chance of precipitation in Melbourne.

This, according to the NWS's forecast discussion written by meteorologist Derrick Weitlich, is due to a weak front boundary that is just north of Brevard, bringing with it an increase in moisture.

Weitlich also noted the chance of a few stronger storms in the area as well.

Update, 2:58 p.m.:

The National Weather Service in Melbourne has issued a flood advisory after reports of record-breaking rains in Melbourne. The advisory is in effect until 4:45 p.m. Heavy ponding is reported along portions of Babcock Street in Palm Bay.