Escambia Schools Will Reopen On Wednesday; School Damage In The Millions
September 22, 2020
Escambia County schools will reopen on Wednesday as repairs by Hurricane Sally continue on Tuesday.
Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said damage estimates are around $10 million – mostly downed trees, damage awnings and flooding.
“Most of our damage like so many in the community is the superficial type damage,” Thomas said. “Although we are making progress, there is still work we have to complete before we’re able to reopen our buildings to our students.”
Holm Elementary suffered the most damage with an entire wing of the school flooded. Students who had class in that building with be moved to neighboring Workman Middle School.
The district will provide physical workbooks or cellular hotspots to remote learners that still do not have internet. On campuses with viable athletic facilities and fields, high school athletic practices can resume as early as noon Tuesday.
Pictured: Damaged awnings and downed trees at Kingfield Elementary School as seen shortly after Hurricane Sally. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
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Residents Of Cantonment, Carver Park Or Molino Needing Tarps, Food Or Water Should Call Escambia County
September 22, 2020
Residents in Molino, Carver Park and Cantonment who need food, water or tarps can contact the Escambia County Citizen Information Line at (850) 471-6600 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m to put in a request.
Residents will be asked to provide their name, phone number and address to be contacted to schedule logistics while supplies last.
ECAT Service Resumes With Modified Regular Schedule
September 22, 2020
ECAT resumes a modified regular service schedule beginning Tuesday.
The following routes are temporarily suspended until further notice:
- Route 41, East Pensacola Heights
- Route 59A, NAS Pensacola, airport
- Route 59X, NAS Pensacola, downtown, Cordova Mall
- Route 61, Pensacola Beach
- Route 64, Beach Jumper
Buses may experience possible traffic delays due to detours and debris. Buses will run every two hours, with the final routes departing ECAT and downtown at 6 p.m. The same modified schedule will run on Saturdays.
Escambia County Community Transportation Paratransit services also resumes on Tuesday.
The UWF Trolley Service will resume service on Thursday, September 24 when the college reopens.
Cox Restores Service To Over 80% Of Customers; Spectrum Continues To Work On Restoration
September 22, 2020
Cox Communications has restored service to at least 83% of their customers, while Spectrum said they are continuing to repair outages.
Cox Communications
Cox Communications said that they are making significant progress in restoring its network and services.
Following Hurricane Sally making landfall, 93% of Cox customers along the Gulf Coast were offline. As of Monday, that number has been reduced to 17%.
“Our team continues to work tirelessly to get the Gulf Coast reconnected,” said Anthony Pope, senior vice president and region manager of Cox Southeast. “Once power came back on in the community, we’ve been able to reconnect a large majority of our customers to the services they enjoy. We still have work ahead, particularly in the hardest hit areas, and we will not rest until the network has been restored.”
Cox brought in technicians from around the region to assist with this process.
“I’m very proud of the work our team has done to reconnect so many of our Gulf Coast neighbors.” said David Deliman, market vice president of Cox Gulf Coast. “As businesses reopen and school is looking to restart, we are committed to completing repairs to the network this week.”
Spectrum Communications
An unknown number of Spectrum customers remain without internet and cable following Hurricane Sally last week.
NorthEscambia.com reached out to Spectrum. We were told Monday afternoon by Spectrum Senior Director of Regional Communications South Patti Michel that the cable company should be able to provide a restoration update in terms of a percentage to us on Tuesday.
“The vast majority of outages following Hurricane Sally are caused by downed trees and resulting loss of power. Spectrum services are often restored with, or immediately following, restoration of power at the customer’s location. However, in some cases, Spectrum services may still be affected even after power returns to a home or business,” Spectrum Senior Director of Regional Communications South Patti Michel said in an email.
“Outages caused by damage to Spectrum’s network or lines will be restored as quickly and as safely as possible by our technicians as soon as they can safely access these sites. We appreciate customer’s patience as we work to restore services,” her email continued.
Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge
Price Gouging Hotline Is Active After Hurricane Sally
September 22, 2020
Florida’s Attorney General has activated her price gouging hotline.
In the aftermath of the destruction and flooding left by Hurricane Sally, Attorney General Ashley Moody is warning those in impacted areas to guard against price gouging, contracting scams and fraud. Attorney General Moody’s Price Gouging Hotline remains open and accessible for consumers to report extreme price increases and storm-related scams.
After a natural disaster, consumers should be wary of tree service scams, building and home repair scams, disaster relief scams and water testing and treatment scams, Moody said.
“Hurricane Sally brought destruction to property and the lives of thousands of Floridians. Sadly, these events often bring with them a wave of fraud and other types of crime, Moody said. Anyone who steals from Floridians in this time of crisis will be caught and prosecuted. My office and local law enforcement will work tirelessly to protect Floridians, but citizens can help by taking steps to protect themselves.”
Man Shot At Century Convenience Store Monday Night
September 21, 2020
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting Monday night at a Century convenience store that sent one man to the hospital.
About 7:38 p.m. the law enforcement responded to a report of a man chasing another man with a gun at the Century Pit Stop on North Century Boulevard, according Amber Southard, public information officer for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
“A short time later, a gunshot victim showed up at Atmore (Community) Hospital suffering from a non-life threatening wound,” she said, adding he was shot during the Century incident.
Witnesses told NorthEscambia.com that there were customers in the parking lot at the time of the shooting.
No one was taken into custody following the incident and no description of the suspect was available.
Anyone with information is asked to call the ECSO at (850) 436-9620 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
EREC Power Restoration Is Complete
September 21, 2020
Escambia River Electric Cooperative announced that as of about 5:45 p.m., every member that is is able to receive electricity has had their power restored.
EREC reported 95% of their members, 11,463 total customers, without power after Hurricane Sally across northern Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
“We thank our membership for their patience and tremendous show of support as our line crews worked to restore power as safely and quickly as possible. We thank our fellow cooperatives who sent their line crews to assist us in our time of need to rebuild our battered system. We are proud to be a part of the cooperative family,” EREC said.
Escambia County Curfew Lifted, Except For Perdido Key
September 21, 2020
The curfew for Escambia County has expired, with the exception of Perdido Key.
The curfew is in effect from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. through Thursday morning for the Perdido Key barrier island, which is south and west of the Theo Baars bridge.
According to Escambia County, tviolation of an emergency order is a second degree misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail and $500 fine.
Over 90% Of Escambia County Traffic Signals Are Now Working
September 21, 2020
Crews have accessed 264 traffic signals maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation and Escambia County. Of those, 244 are functioning, 14 are flashing and six are non-operational. Remember, tree a non-working traffic signal as a four-way stop. Crews are hoping to restore all of the signals on Monday. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
ECUA Trash Collection Back To Normal Schedule
September 21, 2020
Emerald Coast Utilities Authority trash pick up is back to a normal schedule this week.
Sanitation Collection
ECUA garbage collection is back to a normal weekly schedule. There will be no recycling or yard waste collection at this time. Escambia County will begin to pick up hurricane debris on Wednesday.
Boil Water Notice
ECUA has canceled a system wide boil water notice and replaced it with a boil water notice for one subdivision in Cantonment and an area within East Hill. Click here for details.
Phone Lines
ECUA’s phones are now back in service, but they are experiencing a high call volume. Customers can click or tap here to see how many calls are currently holding in order to choose the best time to call. ECUA’s customer service number is (850) 476-0480, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The emergency after hours number is (850) 476-5110.