Hurricane Sally

State lawmakers are preparing for the 2021 Florida legislative session. District 2 Representative Alex Andrade shared his thoughts on this year’s priorities and challenges.

“The elephant in the room obviously is the budget crunch we’ll be facing this year," he said. We’ll be looking at between a $2 and $4 billion loss to revenue that the Florida legislature is going to have to figure out how to balance." 

Owing to the pandemic and after discussions with local partners and officials, organizers of Pensacon are pushing back the annual event to later this year, at least.

Originally set for Feb. 26-28, organizers are now searching for new dates.

“Obviously, the first concern is safety; we’ve seen a spike where we’re sitting at the worst we’ve been since this pandemic began in cases and deaths. We just don’t think it’s the right time. We want to make sure everybody’s safe, first and foremost,” said Pensacon founder and CEO Mike Ensley.

Residents in five Northwest Florida counties coping with damage to their property by Hurricane Sally are getting help from the feds.

On Friday, FEMA approved Individual Assistance for five counties, including Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, and Bay. That comes two weeks after the state’s requested for all programs under IA, and all categories of Public Assistance for 13 counties impacted by Sally.

Update: 11 a.m. Oct. 2

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved Individual Assistance for Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton and Bay counties following the impact of Hurricane Sally.Estimates are in for both public and private property damaged by Hurricane Sally in Escambia County, with FEMA crews back in the area going through their paces.

Original story:

Now that Hurricane Sally is history the restoration is underway in Northwest Florida and south Alabama. And so are the scam artists looking to make an illicit buck.

One of the emerging rip offs deals with Social Security, according to Tammy Ward at the Better Business Bureau in Pensacola.

Perdido Key and Innerarity Point were among the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sally in southwest Escambia County. The storm made landfall at nearby Gulf Shores, leaving property ravaged by wind and water - due to storm surge and more than 20 inches of rainfall.

Driving through the area, it’s clear that a storm has been here. Vegetation on the barrier island has turned brown from the salt water that washed over, trees are down or leaning due to the sustained wind, and there are blue tarps scattered about.

President Donald Trump has declared a major disaster exists in Escambia County from Hurricane Sally. But the declaration does not mention assistance for individuals.

The declaration provides funding for public damage —roads, bridges, public facilities, and debris removal, among others. At last check Escambia has about $183 million in such damages. The sticking point is that it does not yet include provision for individual or household assistance.

With cleanup and restoration work ongoing in the wake of Hurricane Sally, one unanswered questions is when northwest Florida will get a federal disaster declaration?

“[There’s] a lot of communication from the state Department of Emergency Management and also from our FEMA partners,” said Escambia County Administrator Janice Gilley. “They’re working to complete all of their assessment, and the valuations are still being calculated.”

Tuesday afternoon’s briefing at the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center reflected the progress, in which the county is rebounding from Hurricane Sally.

They may not be the final figures, but County Administrator Janice Gilley had some numbers on cleanup as the infrastructure gets back on line.

“To date, our assessments have determined that there are $182.6 million worth of damage to the city [of Pensacola], the county, the [Escambia] schools and the ECUA facilities,” said Gilley.