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Rain exposes flooding problems in Midtown

DAYTONA TIMES — Flooding issues were causing havoc in areas across Daytona Beach on Wednesday and the Black community seemed to suffer a heavy brunt of it. Intermittent rain over the past few days created such a problem that residents were complaining about street flooding and one resident said her car was almost ruined from the water. 

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A car tries to maneuver down Keech Street near Campbell Middle School. (Photo by: Duane C. Fernandez Sr. | hardnottsphotography.com)

By Andreas Butler

Flooding issues were causing havoc in areas across Daytona Beach on Wednesday and the Black community seemed to suffer a heavy brunt of it.

Intermittent rain over the past few days created such a problem that residents were complaining about street flooding and one resident said her car was almost ruined from the water.

Part of the problem was a canal blockage.

Late Wednesday afternoon, conditions had worsened near Campbell Middle School, the Caroline Village housing development and Garden Apartments.

Other streets in the area, including Keech, Carolina, South and Jean Streets as well as Orange Avenue, had flooded. The flooding also was impacting businesses along Orange Avenue as well as the police substation.

Always a concern

Karen Martinez, who lives in Carolina Village, has experienced it before.

She stood patiently waiting for the bus on Keech Street across from the intersection with Caroline Street near Campbell Middle School and the Caroline Village housing complex.

On her way to pick up her granddaughter, Martinez had to stand almost in the middle of the street due to water covering the sidewalk where the bus stop was located.

“I am always concerned about flooding any time a hurricane, thunderstorm or heavy rain comes,” she told the Daytona Times.

Canal blockage

By the end of the day, the area where Martinez had stood, was underwater.

“It gets so bad sometimes that it floods inside my apartment. They said they fixed the sewers, but I don’t know what they did,’’ she said.

The cause of flooding in the area between Nova Road, Bellevue, Orange Avenue and Caroline Street was attributed to the Nova Canal, which is the canal that runs along Nova Road.

City officials said that work crews were in the area working on a canal blockage.

Overflowed onto street

City of Daytona Beach spokesperson Susan Cerbone said via email on Wednesday, “The Nova Canal is managed by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).  Earlier today a blockage – vegetation and debris – in the canal was identified in the area near Beville Road. A contractor, hired by FDOT, is clearing it out now. It will take about 4.5 hours to clear.”

“The blockage coupled with heavy periods of rainfall caused the Nova Canal to overflow onto the Jean Street area earlier today. With the amount of rain tapering off and the obstruction being removed, the levels of the canal are expected to recede.”

Flooding also happened near Daytona State College, Madison Avenue, North Sttreet and nearby streets.

‘Like a pool’

Tomekie Morrison lives between Mason Avenue and North Street.

“This rain and flooding is just terrible. It seems to have come from nowhere. I can’t even go anywhere,” she related.

Morrison also had a close call and almost lost her vehicle to flood damage.

“My car almost got stuck in the water. I was going to go to the Sunoco on Mason by the Seabreeze Bridge near the railroad tracks, but it was like a pool with so much water. So many cars were trying to get over the railroad tracks I just turned around,” expressed Morrison.

Road project

City officials say there are some projects in the works that will help with flooding.

The Martin Luther King Jr. road project from Orange Avenue to International Speedway Boulevard is one of them. Construction is ongoing between Magnolia Avenue and El Dorado Street.

The $2.6-million-dollar project will completely resurface the road, improve utilities, improve and add decorative lighting, improve utility poles, fix water mains, redo underground pipes, and man holes.

The city, along with the county and other municipalities, had pushed for the half-cent sales tax, which they said would have provided more than $42 million countywide for such projects, including $3.7 million per year for Daytona Beach and $74 million over a 20-year span.

Initiative rejected

Voters rejected the measure in a special election in May.

“The MLK streetscape addresses antiquated stormwater utilities and the Orange Avenue project did the same thing. Both projects expanded the capacity of the system,” Cerbone noted.

“A few years ago, we upgraded the drainage system on South Street, which also directly benefits the Midtown area. If you recall, improving the drainage system in Midtown was a major component in our plan for the half-cent sales tax initiative,” she added.

The area is also seeing records rainfall amounts due to a low-pressure system moving through east Central Florida, according to the National Weather Service located in Melbourne.

It reported that Volusia County received around 3 inches of rainfall on Wednesday and 2 to 3 on Tuesday. Rain was expected to continue into Friday.

This article originally appeared in the Daytona Times.

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#NNPA BlackPress

LIVE from the NMA Convention Raheem DeVaughn Says The Time Is Now: Let’s End HIV in Our Communities #2

Set against the backdrop of the NMA conference, Executive Officers from the National Medical Association, Grammy Award Winning Artist and Advocate Raheem DeVaughn, and Gilead Sciences experts, are holding today an important conversation on HIV prevention and health equity. Black women continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV despite advances in prevention options. Today’s event […]

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Set against the backdrop of the NMA conference, Executive Officers from the National Medical Association, Grammy Award Winning Artist and Advocate Raheem DeVaughn, and Gilead Sciences experts, are holding today an important conversation on HIV prevention and health equity.

Black women continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV despite advances in prevention options. Today’s event is designed to uplift voices, explore barriers to access, and increase awareness and key updates about PrEP, a proven prevention method that remains underutilized among Black women. This timely gathering will feature voices from across health, media, and advocacy as we break stigma and center equity in HIV prevention.

Additional stats and information to know:

Black women continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV, with Black women representing more than 50% of new HIV diagnoses among women in the U.S. in 2022, despite comprising just 13% of women in the U.S.

Women made up only 8% of PrEP users despite representing 19% of all new HIV diagnoses in 2022.

● Gilead Sciences is increasing awareness and addressing stigma by encouraging regular HIV testing and having judgment-free conversations with your healthcare provider about prevention options, including oral PrEP and long-acting injectable PrEP options.

● PrEP is an HIV prevention medication that has been available since 2012.

● Only 1 in 3 people in the U.S. who could benefit from PrEP were prescribed a form of PrEP in 2022.

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#NNPA BlackPress

TRUMP: “Washington, D.C. is Safe”

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — President Trump, who typically travels with a full contingent of high-level protection, insinuated that he finally felt safe enough to go to dinner in the District of Columbia. “My wife and I went out to dinner last night for the first time in four years,” said the nation’s 47th president.

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Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA.

By Apriil Ryan
BlackPressUSA Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent

“Washington, D.C. is safe,” President Trump declared from the Oval Office today. Those words came while Trump was hosting Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During the question-and-answer session, which primarily focused on a peace deal in the Russian-Ukrainian war, Trump explained, “You did that in four days.” He was speaking of how fast the National Guard quelled the violence in what was once called Chocolate City.

The President deployed the National Guard to D.C. a week ago, to a city with reduced crime rates over the previous year. Violent crime dropped by 26%, marking the lowest level in 30 years. Homicides also fell by 11%.

President Trump, who typically travels with a full contingent of high-level protection, insinuated that he finally felt safe enough to go to dinner in the District of Columbia. “My wife and I went out to dinner last night for the first time in four years,” said the nation’s 47th president.

Trump reinforced his claim about the newly acquired safety in D.C. by relaying that a friend’s son is attending dinner in D.C., something he would not have done last year.

After the president finished his comments, a reporter/commentator in the room with close connections to Marjorie Taylor Greene jumped into the high-level conversation to affirm the president’s comments, saying, “I walked around yesterday with MTG. If you can walk around D.C. with MTG and not be attacked, this city is safe.”

That reporter was the same person who chastised President Zelenskyy months ago during his first Oval Office meeting with Trump for not wearing a business suit. Zelenskyy, a wartime President, has been clad in less formal attire to reflect the country’s current war stance against Russia.

Without any sourcing, President Trump also said, “People that haven’t gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C., in two years are going out to dinner, and the restaurants the last two days have been busier than they’ve been in a long time.”

The increase in policing in Washington, D.C. is because a 19-year-old former Doge employee was carjacked in the early hours of the morning recently.

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Rising Energy Costs Weigh Heaviest on Black Households

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — For many African American families, the cost of keeping the lights on and homes heated or cooled is not just a monthly bill — it’s a crushing financial burden.

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Rising Electricity Utility Prices and Energy Demand (Photo by Douglas Rissing)

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

For many African American families, the cost of keeping the lights on and homes heated or cooled is not just a monthly bill — it’s a crushing financial burden.

A new national study from Binghamton University and California State University, San Bernardino, finds that Black households spend a far larger share of their income on energy compared to white households, even when income levels are the same. “We often say that African Americans suffer more, but we often blame it just on income. And the reality is, there is something more there,” study author George Homsy, associate professor at Binghamton University, wrote. “It’s not just because they tend to be poor. There is something that’s putting them at a disadvantage. I think what happened is it happens to be where they live.” The study, published in Energy Research & Social Science, analyzed 65,000 census tracts across the United States. It found that while the average American household spends about 3.2% of income on energy bills, households in the majority African American census tracts spend an average of 5.1%.

Homsy and researcher Ki Eun Kang point to the age and condition of housing stock, along with lower homeownership rates, as key drivers. Their research concludes that “energy burden is not simply a matter of income or energy cost but also race, which might be driven by place.” Older, less energy-efficient housing and high rental rates in Black communities mean residents often cannot make upgrades like improved insulation or new appliances, locking families into higher bills.

Tradeoffs and Health Risks

The consequences go beyond money. Families forced to spend 10% or more of their income on energy — what experts classify as “unmanageable” — may cut back on food, medicine, or other essentials. More than 12 million U.S. households report leaving their homes at unsafe temperatures to reduce costs, while millions more fall behind on utility bills. The health effects are severe. High energy burdens increase risks of asthma, depression, poor sleep, pneumonia, and even premature death. The issue is especially acute for African Americans, who are disproportionately exposed to housing and environmental conditions that amplify these risks.

Washington, D.C.: A Case Study

In Washington, D.C., the problem is particularly stark. A recent analysis by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) shows that SNAP-eligible households spend more than 20% of their income on energy bills. Across the metro area, nearly two-thirds of low-income households devote over 6% of their income to energy, and 40% face what researchers call a “severe financial strain,” paying more than 10%. Pepco, the District’s primary electricity provider, has implemented three consecutive annual rate hikes, pushing the average household bill to $114 per month as of January 2025. Shutoffs have followed — nearly 12,000 customers lost service in 2024, with disconnections doubling after a summer rate hike. Washington Gas has also sought a 12% rate increase and pushed a controversial $215 million pipeline replacement project, rebranded as “District SAFE.” The plan could ultimately cost D.C. households an additional $45,000 each over several decades, or nearly $1,000 annually added to bills.

Historical Roots

Researchers argue that these inequities are not accidental but rooted in history. The ScienceDirect study reveals that African American communities living in formerly redlined neighborhoods continue to face disadvantages today — from poor housing quality to higher climate risks. Homsy says policymakers must make targeted efforts. “It is harder to get to rental units where a lot of poor people live,” he noted. “We need to work harder to get into these communities of color.”

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