Kansas Padley and Liza Colegrove of Tybee’s Professional Cleaning of Pensacola remove soggy boxes and material from an East Romana Street garage Friday. The workers were racing against time to clean up the garage and get it dry before mold could set in.(Photo: Photos by Gary Ghioto/***@***.***)

pnj.com - May 3, 2014

When it comes to preventing mold, there is no time to wait . . .

"The best thing to do is get everything that's wet out and cleaned up ... pull up the carpet and pads if it's wet ... then clean everything and get the surface dry,". . .

Northwest Florida residents are familiar with the health dangers and expense tied to mold and have kept remediation businesses extremely busy.

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Gulf Breeze resident Joe Johnson by his house on Loruna Drive, flooded a few yards away. (Photo: Rob Johnson/***@***.*** )

The flooding that hit Pensacola and Gulf Breeze last week devastated many homes, but merely isolated others. Peter Walmsley is among those who learned how unexpectedly they could be marooned.

pnj.com - by Rob Johnson - May 4, 2014

The English poet John Donne, who famously wrote that "no man is an island," didn't know Nancy Helmick, or dozens of other Gulf Breeze residents who have been largely isolated by last week's flooding.

Helmick's house on Loruna Drive in the older and relatively inland section of Gulf Breeze, known as "proper," didn't get flooded last week. But on Sunday, five days after the big rain, she was still hemmed in by water at both ends of her block that make it impassable to her two cars and many others along a 300-yard stretch.

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For Immediate Release:
May 2, 2014

Contact:
Michelle Glady
DCF Press Secretary
(850) 717-4450

DCF Issuing EBT Benefits Early to Clients Affected by Panhandle Flooding
Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton clients will receive EBT benefits on May 5 at 12 a.m.

TALLAHASSEE— For the counties of Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton the Florida Department of Children and Families is issuing the May distribution of food assistance benefits early on Monday, May 5 in response to the disastrous effects of the Panhandle flooding. The intent of the measure is to ensure that storm-impacted customers have an adequate food supply during the disaster recovery period.

The advance distribution applies only to participants of the regular food assistance program in the affected counties. By issuing May benefits early in the month, current food assistance recipients will be able to access their benefits by using their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card.

Approximately 58,002 households will benefit from the early release.

Florida - State Emergency Response Team - Situation Report No. 3
SPRING 2014 FLOODING UPDATE: Friday, May 02, 2014, 12:00 p.m.
(4 page .PDF report)
http://www.floridadisaster.org/eoc/PressReleases/
05%2002%2014%20SitRep.pdf

Additional Situation Reports and Press Releases (see Right sidebar)
http://www.floridadisaster.org/NewsMedia.asp

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A flooded neighborhood at the intersection of South Sunset Drive and Poiciana Drive in Gulf Breeze.(Photo: Rob Johnson/***@***.***)

pnj.com - by Michael Scott Davidson - May 3, 2014

. . . 10:16 a.m. update: A group of residents this morning are giving up on aid and leaving a neighborhood at the intersection of South Sunset Drive and Poiciana Drive in Gulf Breeze. About a dozen people were packing up their belongings, loading their possessions into trucks parked on the other side of water that has cut off the neighborhood for days.

For days, residents in the area have speculated on when help would arrive to pump water out of flooded neighborhoods and provide relief.

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