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Georgia Today: Hurricane Helene statewide update and aftermath, Super Bowl coming back to Atlanta
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On the Friday, Sept. 27 episode of Georgia Today: Gov. Brian Kemp confirmed deaths in Georgia in the wake of Hurricane Helene; we take a trip around the state and get updates from hard-hit communities. Plus, some good news: the Super Bowl is expected to return to Atlanta.
Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB news. Today is Friday, Sept. 27. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, at least 11 deaths are confirmed in Georgia from Hurricane Helene. We'll take a trip around the state and get updates from hard hit communities. And there is a bit of good news out of Atlanta today. The Super Bowl is coming back to the ATL. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.
Story 1
Peter Biello: Gov. Brian Kemp gave an update on storm damage earlier today, just hours after Hurricane Helene passed through Georgia. It entered the state as a Category 2 hurricane and weakened to a tropical storm. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.
Sarah Kallis: Kemp says 11 people in Georgia have died from the storm, including one who was a first responder. He says over 150 roads are closed and crews are clearing debris. But:
Gov. Brian Kemp: Our priority is getting to medical emergencies and facilities like hospitals, nursing homes and others that need critical help and don't have power.
Sarah Kallis: Over 100 structures in Valdosta where Helene hit particularly hard or heavily damaged. Kemp says, at one point, multiple people were trapped. Damage assessments and recovery efforts are still ongoing. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.
Story 2
Peter Biello: The storm did pack its most powerful punch in Southeast Georgia. That is where the highest wind gust measured in the state was recorded — 100 mph in Bacon County. In Valdosta, Mayor Scott Matheson surveyed the city this morning.
Scott Matheson: We are devastated. We are in total utter devastation. Full penetration on homes, cars, vehicles, roadways blocked. We got Idalia and Debby to compare it to, but last night a 100-mile an hour-plus wind is a whole different animal.
Peter Biello: The hurricane's winds stripped away the siding from the steeple in front of the city's Union Cathedral, exposing its metal frame. State officials say at least 115 of Valdosta's structures were damaged.
Story 3
Peter Biello: The Middle Georgia city of Dublin was in the path of the eye of Hurricane Helene early this morning. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more.
Grant Blankenship: By mid-morning Friday, Deborah Wilkins and her neighbor Ralph Stanley were busy clearing their shared neighbor's driveway.
Deborah Wilkins: 70-year-old pecan tree fell. And it breaks my heart and I want to cry.
Grant Blankenship: But at least she wasn't as on edge as she was in the wee hours of the morning when Hurricane Helene passed over the city of Dublin, some 240 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico.
Deborah Wilkins: Then it was constant. It was just wind gust after gust, and then all of a sudden you hear a bomb and you knew a tree fell, and then you heard another bomb.
Grant Blankenship: It was a long night, but Wilkins' home was undamaged. Around the corner, Roderick Stephens was not as lucky. A cedar tree, split at the base, hit his house.
Roderick Stephens: I see that tree fall about 3:30 in the morning, I got to the morning, didn't know all the other trees done fell out here.
Grant Blankenship: He lost four trees total. One was resting on a car. So what's his next move?
Roderick Stephens: I don't know. To be honest with you, I don't know.
Grant Blankenship: But what? Insurance companies say anything?
Roderick Stephens: I ain't talked to nobody right now. I'll just figure it out in a little bit. Just right now I'm surprised to see all this here going on.
Grant Blankenship: Yeah. Bill Laird is emergency management director for Laurens County. He says Helene surprised many here when its track shifted from the forecast, seemingly on a dime.
Bill Laird: We went within just a few minutes from 25-30 mile an hour gusts to 60 mile an hour gusts.
Grant Blankenship: He compares it again to a bomb going off all over the city, where it also killed two people. Laird says it's going to be weeks before Dublin and Laurens County can recover.
Bill Laird: We're all making progress and we're going to try to get everybody.
Grant Blankenship: In the meantime, he says, everyone's doing their best. For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Dublin.
Story 4
Peter Biello: In Savannah, a building holding apartments and a restaurant partially collapsed on Broughton Street. The main commercial corridor in the city's historic district. No injuries were reported after the third story of the three-story historic brick building collapsed into the second floor as the storm pummeled the city around 2 this morning. Jeff Hall, who was cleaning up storm debris from his yard in Savannah's Ardsley Park neighborhood, says that he and his neighbors got lucky with only minor damage.
Jeff Hall: I wouldn't say it's worse than anything I've been through in the past 14 years, for sure. They're all a little different. You know, Debby was wet. This one was sort of windy. More power outages. So they all have their own special character. We're hoping that the power comes on soon. It's hard to know. And, you know, they have a hard time giving an estimate. But I understand they've got a lot of small fires, as it were, to put out in that regard. So we're, you know, trying to be patient and help one another when we can.
Story 5
Peter Biello: The city of Columbus was spared the brunt of the storm as it moved farther east than expected. Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson says as rain continues to fall in northern Georgia, the Chattahoochee River will rise and flood the Riverwalk.
Skip Henderson: One of the biggest problems we'll have is a clean up of that 22-mile Riverwalk, pulling back and spending some taxpayer dollars, unfortunately, to try to get it — to get it back in shape.
Peter Biello: He says only six roads in Columbus were closed by debris.
Story 6
Peter Biello: Albany's fire chief, Cedric Scott, says even though Albany was spared the worst, residents heeded the call to be prepared.
Cedric Scott: Albany and Dougherty County citizens really paid attention to the messages that were being put out. They really took this serious, and I just want to thank our community for doing that. You know, when you go through events like this, you can begin to not take it serious. You can say, you know, it's not going to happen this time and we've heard this message before. But this time our community did not do that. When we said prepare, they went out and they prepared.
Peter Biello: Scott says residents also heeded a curfew and kept off the roads during the storm.
Story 7
Peter Biello: Residents of Atlanta breathed a sigh of relief as the storm proved weaker than expected in the capital city. Still, firefighters there rescued about 20 people overnight from cars or apartments imperiled by swiftly rising floodwaters. That's according to the city's mayor, Andre Dickens. GPB's Amanda Andrews has more.
Amanda Andrews: Like many parts of Georgia, Atlanta's seeing flooding, fallen trees and power outages. Georgia Power reports thousands of customers are without electricity and the number is likely to go up as strong winds continue. Mayor Andre Dickens encouraged people to stay off the roads and keep all their devices charged.
Andre Dickens: Make sure anyone that has medical equipment that they charge that up as well. Georgia Power has also been gracious enough to grant us four mobile trucks, and we will begin to put those out and let folks know where they can get charging if they so need it.
Amanda Andrews: Dickens is also encouraging people to call 311 for downed trees or power lines, and 911 to reach police. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews.
Story 8
Peter Biello: It could be weeks or months before the full impact of the storm is assessed in Georgia's agriculture industry. Georgia's Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said he had a clear message for farmers.
Tyler Harper: Document, document, document. We need as much information as possible to ensure that we can get the needed resources and the needed help deployed as quickly as possible.
Peter Biello: He said tree nut and poultry farmers were hit especially hard. We'll have more on Helene and Georgia from our reporters statewide. Find the latest at gpb.org/storms.
Story 9
Peter Biello: As newscasters, we are always warning people about being careful not to drive into water during a storm in the dark. Here in Atlanta very early this morning, a woman who had to go into work accidentally drove into 4 feet of water on a side street. Not far away was longtime Atlanta Network TV meteorologist Bob Van Dillen, who was reporting on water rescues in that flooded neighborhood when he heard screams. Bob spoke earlier today with GPB's Orlando Montoya.
Orlando Montoya: Bob, tell us how this all unfolded.
Bob Van Dillen: Well, it was, dark. It was really early in the morning. It was the first or second hit that we were doing in the morning. It was about, 5:45 a.m. around there, and my photographer and I were the only ones on the scene. It was right there by the Bobby Jones golf course, a little farther down with this neighborhood that we were trying to film where the Peachtree Creek had come out of its banks because there was all these high-water rescues just before. So, we were setting up our shot, and all of a sudden, we heard some screaming and we're, like, we turn around and we're like, "Oh my God, there's a woman in that car" that just drove into the floods and the floodwater's going up the side of her car. Soon as I heard that. I said, "all right, just hold on." I pulled out my other phone and I dialed 911. Meanwhile, I was looking at the water at the car and it wasn't coming up too quickly, but it started getting up there and the lady was panicking even more so I just said, "You know, forget this." And I threw the microphone down on the, on the seat and took my wallet out of the back of my pants and the phone out of my pants. I waded in there and got to the car, and she had the car window rolled down about 2 inches or so yelling for help. So, I walked over there, and I said, "okay, well, I got you, I got you. You'll be okay." And I tried opening the door, but the water pressure wasn't allowing me to open the door. So, I said, "okay, can you please roll the window down?" So the window was able to be rolled down, and as soon as it did, it equalized the water pressure, and I was able to open up the door, but I had to really jam it with my hand. And she has these two bags. She gives me her two bags, hands me her phone and I go "Get out of the water and just climb on my back" and she does. She climbs on my back, hanging on, and she was short. She wasn't tall. Put her down and she was fine and shivering. I could tell she was going into shock. She really wasn't saying much, though. I didn't have a blanket or anything, so I just had to give her one of my spare shirts.
Orlando Montoya: And this all happened while you were on TV?
Bob Van Dillen: Yeah. I didn't even realize it, honestly. I knew I was on, I wasn't sure, I kind of clicked in and just saw this lady needed help. And I was like, "you know what my job is just a job. Not a big deal. Just go out and get her." And it worked.
Orlando Montoya: And you must be aware that you, you know, have taught people a lesson now.
Bob Van Dillen: Yeah, I hope so. That's the main thing, right? It wasn't really her fault that much, because where she came in, there was no streetlight. The water was up, and, she was coming home working overnight shift at a bakery, a local bakery. And I guess she just didn't see the water because it kind of blended in with the road at that point. But to your point, it's something, you would — if you can stay home when there's an active hurricane or tropical storm warning in your neighborhood, you want to do it. But I understand if you have to get a job, you have to get a job. This was just bad circumstances for this poor lady.
Orlando Montoya: And that was Bob Van Dillen of Fox Weather. Thanks for joining me today.
Bob Van Dillen: You got it. I appreciate your time.
Peter Biello: And that was GPB's Orlando Montoya speaking with Atlanta network TV meteorologist Bob Van Dillen.
Story 10
Peter Biello: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta plans to close its Egleston Hospital and move more than 300 patients there to the brand-new Arthur M. Blank Hospital on Sunday. The health care system says thousands of employees have been rehearsing for the move, a logistical challenge, for two years. It will involve 56 ambulances, many police officers and what hospital officials expect from the public: patience on Sunday from drivers on the route between the Emory and Druid Hills campuses.
Story 11
Peter Biello: Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium is expected to host the Super Bowl in 2028. That's according to Sports Business Journal, which first reported the news yesterday. The media outlet cites sources saying key NFL executives and team owners are pushing for Atlanta. A final decision will be up to a full group of owners at a meeting in Atlanta next month.
Peter Biello: And that is it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit GPB.org/News. And again, if you want the latest about the storm, go to GPB.org/storms. Remember to subscribe to this podcast as well. We'll be back in your podcast feed on Monday afternoon with all the latest Georgia news. And if you've got feedback or a story idea, we would love to hear from you. Email us. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. You could also use that email address to tell us how Hurricane Helene has affected you. Again, GeorgiaToday@GPB.og. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you again for listening and have a great weekend.
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