Schools, UWF and PSC reopened Oct. 19 and the first debris pass will take 4 to 5 weeks. Which Pensacola parks are open, recycling from Oct. 26, and where to get help.

Escambia County public schools, Pensacola State College and the University of West Florida reopened Monday, Oct. 19. Pensacola tap water is safe to drink: the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority has lifted every boil-water notice it issued after Hurricane Isaias. City debris crews expect their first pass to take four to five weeks. Here is how the debris order works.

Updated Oct. 22: schools and colleges reopened Oct. 19; debris figures and the 4-to-5-week first pass; recycling restarts Oct. 26; more parks open; the city’s state of emergency is extended to Oct. 29.

Updated Oct. 18: ECUA lifted the last Isaias boil-water notices on Oct. 15 and the Bayou Boulevard notice on Oct. 16; more parks have reopened; a multi-agency resource center is open at the Bayview Senior Center.

Updated Oct. 15: ECUA lifted the systemwide notice for the mainland on Oct. 13 and for Pensacola Beach on Oct. 14; schools, UWF and PSC have set reopening dates; debris collection has begun. This story was first published Oct. 11.

The storm made landfall in Destin, about 40 miles east of Pensacola, as a Category 2 hurricane, Florida Power & Light said. City details below come from the City of Pensacola’s 5 p.m. Oct. 13 recovery update unless another source is linked.

Water: safe to drink

ECUA lifted all remaining Isaias boil-water notices on Thursday, Oct. 15. That covers mainland Escambia County, Perdido Key and Pensacola Beach, including the last addresses on Springhill Drive, Valley Drive, McCutchen Place and Piedmont Road. ECUA said customers will also get a door hanger saying the notice is lifted.

The separate notice for about 100 customers in East Pensacola Heights was lifted Friday, Oct. 16, after testing came back clean. It followed a water outage at 1100 Bayou Blvd. on Oct. 14 that ECUA said was not related to the storm. The streets cleared include Bayou Boulevard, Conway Drive, East Lakeview Avenue, Pickens Avenue, East Moreno Street, Mallory Street, East Avery Street, Watson Avenue and Van Kirk Avenue.

One notice is still in force, outside the city. It covers about 100 customers around Helms Road and Woodside Road in Beulah, about 12 miles northwest, after an outage on Oct. 15 that ECUA said was not storm-related. The notice lists the streets.

Now that the notices are lifted, ECUA’s answers to common questions say:

  • flushing your pipes is not necessary
  • throw out ice made during the notice and clean the ice bin
  • follow the maker’s instructions for refrigerator and faucet filters
  • laundry done during the notice does not need rewashing

Call ECUA at 850-476-0480 with questions.

Power

FPL reported 17,930 Escambia County customers still without power as of the city’s Oct. 13 update. It had restored 145,930 of the 168,860 customers who lost power in the county. FPL’s outage map is at FPL.com/PowerTracker. Report an outage or a downed line at 800-468-8243, and call 911 in an emergency. Our power outages page has more.

A dark traffic signal is a four-way stop under Florida law.

Debris and trash

The city’s hauler, D&J, started collecting storm debris Tuesday, Oct. 13, with 40 trucks. By Oct. 19 crews had hauled 3,236 loads of vegetative debris, at a cost of $16 million so far, the city said in its Oct. 19 recovery update. D&J estimates about 1 million cubic yards in the city in all. The first pass is expected to take four to five weeks, with at least a second pass after it. Crews go to the worst-hit areas and road hazards first, so one pile can be taken and the next left; our debris story explains the order. The city’s instructions:

  • separate vegetation, such as limbs and leaves, from construction and demolition debris
  • do not bag storm debris
  • keep piles reachable and off the road
  • keep household garbage out of the debris pile

The city is storing collected debris at Roger Scott and Goya Drive for now.

Garbage pickup continues, and crews are working Wednesdays to catch up on missed carts; report a miss to 311. Curbside recycling restarts Monday, Oct. 26. Until then, recycling carts are emptied but the contents are not recycled. Pensacola Energy and sanitation bills are extended to Nov. 2, and the October Mayor’s Neighborhood Cleanup moves to Nov. 21. Our trash and recycling page has the regular schedule.

Schools and colleges

All three reopened Monday, Oct. 19, according to the Florida Department of Education’s storm page:

  • Escambia County Public Schools: reopened to students Oct. 19.
  • Pensacola State College: reopened Oct. 19, as the college’s update set out.
  • University of West Florida: classes resumed Oct. 19, after the campus reopened to faculty and staff Oct. 16, according to the university’s notice.

Two city community centers are still closed: Gull Point and East Pensacola Heights. The after-school program from Gull Point has moved to the Cobb and Woodland Heights centers, and parents provide transport from Gull Point, the city said.

Roads, parks and city services

The National Guard is helping city Public Works crews clear blocked roads, and Pensacola Fire is checking the city road by road for fallen trees. Our road construction and closures page has the latest list of closed streets.

City offices reopened to the public Wednesday, Oct. 14, and Permitting is taking walk-ins. Mayor D.C. Reeves extended the city’s state of emergency a second time Oct. 22. The declaration runs seven days, to Oct. 29, unless he extends or shortens it.

Most city parks have reopened, the city said in its parks update, last revised Oct. 22. Open parks and centers include:

  • Community Maritime Park, Plaza Ferdinand, Plaza de Luna, Seville Square, Florida Square and MLK Plaza
  • Veterans Memorial Park, Legion Field, Magee Field and Kiwanis Park
  • Aragon Park, Armstrong Park, Miraflores Park, Morris Court Park and Wyer Park
  • Bruce Beach and the Bayou Texar boat launch
  • Aviation Discovery Park, the Chappie James Museum grounds and Blake Doyle Skatepark
  • Roger Scott Dog Park and every court at the Roger Scott Tennis Center
  • Bayview Community Center, Cobb Resource Center, Woodland Heights Center and Theophalis May Resource Center
  • Vickrey Center, for the YMCA after-school program and the playground

Partly open:

  • Osceola Golf Course: the range and holes 1-9 are open; holes 10-18 have no date yet
  • Sanders Beach-Corinne Jones Resource Center: rentals have resumed; only the unfenced parts of the park are open

Bayview Park, Exchange Park and Hitzman Park were still being assessed on Oct. 19, the city said. Crews will check smaller neighborhood parks the weeks of Oct. 26 and Nov. 2, and parks with no equipment from the week of Nov. 9. Debris is cleared in the reopened parks, but fencing, lighting and other repairs are still needed, so take care.

The city still asks people to stay out of any park or playground until it is cleared, and not to use electrical outlets in parks until they are inspected. Reopenings are posted at playpensacola.com. Report a hazard in a park to 311.

Youth sports have moved too. Bill Bond has moved from Roger Scott to Raymond Riddles Athletic Park on North W Street, and NEP football practices at the Brent Raiders field, the city said.

City-permitted special events and markets are expected to resume the weekend of Oct. 23, the city said; check with the organizer first.

One place for storm help

The Bayview Senior Center, 2000 E. Lloyd St., opened Oct. 15 as a Multi-Agency Resource Center. A second center is at the Salvation Army, 1501 N. Q St. Both are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, with help on food, water, housing and recovery services from agencies including the American Red Cross, the city’s Housing Department and Legal Services of North Florida. The city said they are not supply distribution sites. Seniors who pre-registered with the Council on Aging of West Florida can pick up meals at the Cobb and Bayview centers and in the Gull Point parking lot. Escambia County Area Transit gives free rides: call 850-471-6657 and say “MARC.”

Homes in the city’s three Community Redevelopment Agency districts can also get grants for roof tarps, boarded windows and fallen-tree removal. Here is how the CRA program works.

The monthly community meeting on the Baptist Town demolition project, set for Thursday, Oct. 15, is canceled.

Free meals

Escambia County has posted a daily list of feeding and distribution sites since the storm, most recently on its news page. We could not load the list for Sunday, Oct. 18. Call 211 or the county’s Citizen Information Line at 850-471-6600 to find the nearest hot meal, or ask at either resource center above.

What it means for you

  • Throw out ice made during the boil notice and clean the ice bin, ECUA said.
  • Report road debris and downed trees to Pensacola 311. The phone lines are back: call 311 or 850-436-5555, or use cityofpensacola.com/311.
  • Report damage to your home through the county’s Citizen Damage Report. It is not a FEMA application. FEMA aid for individuals has not been approved for Isaias; here is what the federal declaration covers.
  • Need volunteer help with tarping, trees or debris? Call the Crisis Cleanup hotline, 800-451-1954, the city said.
  • Call 850-471-6600 for the county’s Citizen Information Line, or 211 for food, water or shelter.
  • Run a generator outdoors only, at least 20 feet from your home and never in a garage, the county said.
  • Get a permit before major repairs. The county explains the rules on its permitting after a storm page.

Our hurricane prep guide lists shelters, zones and supplies. We will update this story as the parks and debris work progress.