Discovery Of Torpedo Prompted Florida Evacuations

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FL — A contractor working on the foundation for a new home in Indian River County’s Ocean Ridge subdivision got more than he bargained for Tuesday. After digging about 3 feet down, the man came across an obstruction in the soil.

That obstruction turned out to be an undetonated torpedo that dates back to the World War II era, according to the Indian River County Emergency Services Department. Not only did the unusual find stop the contractor’s work in its tracks, it’s also prompted evacuations within the community.

According to the county, all homes within 800 feet of the torpedo’s location were evacuated Wednesday morning. After the neighborhood was deemed clear by the Indian River Sheriff’s Office, a U.S. Navy bomb disposal team from Jacksonville moved in to rid Ocean Ridge of the explosive device.

Evacuations began at 10 a.m. Jan. 18. An all-clear was given late Wednesday afternoon for residents to return to their homes.

See also: Watch: Bomb Explodes On St. Pete Beach

As for the Navy’s explosive ordinance disposal team, it removed the torpedo from the neighborhood and towed it about a mile out into the Atlantic Ocean before detonating it safely away from the population.

The evacuations were called for out of an abundance of caution. The torpedo was loaded with roughly 150 pounds of gunpowder, TC Palm reported. The explosive is believed to be a leftover from an old WWII naval training base that spanned from Vero Beach to Jensen Beach during the war.

Further information is not available at this time.

A similar discovery was made on Florida's Gulf Coast in 2015. While not quite a gunpowder-packed torpedo, a person out for a stroll on St. Pete Beach came across a 4-foot-long, barnacle-encrusted bomb from the WWII era.

The discovery prompted an evacuation of the beach in the immediate area and a few nearby homes. MacDill Air Force Base's disposal team was called in to investigate. Rather than transport that ordinance for disposal, however, MacDill's team joined with the Hillsborough County bomb squad to dig in at the beach to create a spot where the M122 Photoflash bomb could be safely detonated.

Photos courtesy of the Indian River County Emergency Services Department