Georgia Today: Hurricane Debby moves through GA; Trump rallies in Atlanta; Democracy Defense Project

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, Aug. 5. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, businesses and homes are without power as Hurricane Debby moves through Georgia. Former President Donald Trump criticizes Gov. Brian Kemp at an Atlanta rally. And former political leaders from both major parties joined forces to inspire confidence in American elections. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Tropical Storm Debby is approaching Savannah, where residents are bracing for potentially historic levels of rainfall. GPB's Benjamin Payne has more.

Benjamin Payne: Chatham County and surrounding areas in Southeast Georgia could see as much as 20 inches of rain through the end of the week. Savannah Mayor Van Johnson is issuing a curfew for the city starting at 10:00 tonight until 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Van Johnson: We expect the rains to start picking up at about 10 to 11:00, and we know it's going to rain throughout the night, and it's going to be a lot of rain, and it's going to be a lot of wet. And we want to make sure that you are not on the streets.

Benjamin Payne: Residents who live in flood-prone areas can park for free in any city-owned parking garage downtown, starting this evening. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: At least 40,000 homes and businesses are without power in South Georgia as Hurricane Debby brings strong winds to the region. But forecasters warn the storm's biggest threats are its potential for catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surges as it stalls for the next few days. The National Hurricane Center's Mike Brennan, expects what he calls a prolonged extreme rainfall event.

Mike Brennen: You're going to have evacuations and rescues out of flooded buildings. Flooded roads can make travel impossible and potential evacuations difficult as well. You're going to have roads that might erode from underneath, creating hidden dangers, so you don't want to be out driving in flooded areas.

Peter Biello: Georgia Emergency Management Director Chris Stallings says, that flooding is a major concern.

Chris Stallings: It can't be emphasized enough how high the flooding risk is going to be for south and south-central Georgia. We're going to see impacts; in areas that traditionally flood, they're going to flood. And those areas that don't traditionally flood, we still are going to see those type of impacts.

Peter Biello: Many South Georgia rivers are below flood stage today, but could see water levels double by later this week. Although flooding is the biggest concern, downed trees are another risk to pay attention to. That's according to Israel Gonzalez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Israel Gonzalez: You know, you have the saturated grounds from the rainfall already, and then you combine it with, you know, tropical storm-force winds or gusts. And that can make trees fairly susceptible to falling down.

Peter Biello: Gov. Brian Kemp has issued an executive order allowing 2,000 National Guard troops to be used for disaster preparation and response. Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Daniel Llegares says residents should stay in their homes unless ordered to seek shelter elsewhere.

Daniel Llegares: Heeding evacuation orders. We know that that window is closing as the storm is approaching. It's moving very slow, dumping a lot of water. So we want people to be safe. If they need to go to a shelter, we ask them to download the FEMA app.

Peter Biello: The app has shelter locations and other resources.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Forecasters expect Georgia farmers to suffer some crop losses because of the prolonged and extreme rain this week. University of Georgia agricultural climatologist Pam Knox sent extension offices around the state a notice this morning warning of possible damage to crops, including melons and corn. She said melons that come in contact with flood waters will have to be discarded, and corn could be damaged by rain and wind. Cotton and peanuts aren't ready for harvest yet and likely will be spared. Overflowing ponds are also a concern since they could cause contamination. Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper says his department stands ready to assist in the storm's aftermath. Follow the latest GPB storm coverage at GPB.org/storms.

Caption

Trump

Credit: File photo

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Former President Donald Trump tore into Gov. Brian Kemp at a rally the Republican presidential candidate held in Atlanta on Saturday. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: Thousands of Trump supporters flocked to the Georgia State Convocation Center to hear the former president speak at the same venue where Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally earlier in the week. Cobb County voter Georgia Williams arrived at the venue several hours early. She says Trump best represents her priorities. 

Georgia Williams: I love my freedoms. I've seen a lot of them go by the wayside in the last four years. I've always been conservative in general, but it's been really ... like, incredible how quickly those went away so fast.

Sarah Kallis: Trump spoke for well over an hour and took time to accuse Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of wanting to keep Republicans out of office.

Donald Trump: Your Gov. Kemp and Raffensperger, are doing everything possible to make 2024 difficult for Republicans to win. What are they doing? I don't know. They got something in mind. You know, they got a little something in mind. Kemp is very bad for the Republican Party.

Sarah Kallis: Kemp released a social media statement before the rally, responding to earlier attacks by Trump, saying he is committed to making sure Republicans win in November and encouraged Trump to, quote, "stop dwelling on the past." For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis in Atlanta.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Two Georgia National Guard soldiers have died in Iraq in what the U.S. Army says were unrelated non-combat deaths. The Army says 23-year-old Specialist Owen James Elliot of Twin City died in Baghdad, and 23-year-old Specialist Travis Jordan of Douglasville died in Baghdad after an incident in another location. The Army says it's investigating each death and there is no evidence of foul play.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: A South Georgia hospital is modernizing its labor and delivery unit to better serve new parents. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more.

Sofi Gratas: Archbold Medical Center in Thomasville has been delivering babies since the 1920s without many updates to their facilities, says Kelly Odom, director of nursing.

Kelly Odom: We've got state of the art equipment, but the facility itself has smaller rooms.

Sofi Gratas: By doubling their square footage. Odom says patients will have more space to welcome newborns. About 600 babies are delivered at Archbold annually. With more room, they plan to work closer with specialists.

Kelly Odom: And that's real important because you are seeing more and more, especially in the rural community, of high-risk pregnancies, people with diabetes with high blood pressure.

Sofi Gratas: The Women's Center will also have extra space for surgeries and recovery, and a private bereavement room for lost pregnancies. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

Caption

Saxby Chambliss

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Four former Georgia politicians, Republicans and Democrats, are working together to rebuild confidence in our elections. Former governors, Democrat Roy Barnes and Republican Nathan Deal, Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democratic Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin have joined the Democracy Defense Project, an organization meant to defend the transparency, safety, security and validity of our nation's electoral system. For more on how they're hoping to do that, we turn to Sen. Chambliss, who's with us now. Thank you very much for being here.

Saxy Chambliss: Good to be with you, Peter.

Peter Biello: Tell us, what in your view is the best way to convince people that our elections are free and fair and safe?

Saxby Chambliss: We can remind them that they really have been. There have been attacks against the electoral process in Georgia over the last several cycles. It's not something new that just came about in 2020. Certainly it had a crescendo in 2020, but there were previous other allegations of — of fraud and instances of influence on the electoral process in Georgia. Every time, Peter, those issues were raised, they were responded to — sometimes going all the way to the courtroom — and every time they were found to be not true. Or certainly not to the point that they really influenced the outcome of the of the election.

Peter Biello: And when you say instances raised, you're referring to instances raised by both the politicians who were running in those races and constituents who had concerns about the ballots they cast or tried to cast.

Saxby Chambliss: Yeah, exactly. I mean, specifically, obviously, 2020, the Trump campaign made specific allegations about improprieties and whatnot. The same thing happened in 2018 in our gubernatorial race here by the Democrat who lost. In both instances, they were just found to be incorrect allegations.

Peter Biello: You were referring to Stacey Abrams there. When politicians have concerns about the way elections are conducted, is there a way they can talk about that without damaging the public's trust in the system as a whole? And if so, how would you describe that way?

Saxby Chambliss: It's difficult for a loser to make allegations about the process without really getting the feelings of her or his supporters that they're correct. Particularly, Peter, now, we have social media that is blasting out untruths from time to time, including in the electoral process. And there's no way to refute that. So I'm not sure that there's a way that the loser can say negative things without influencing the — the supporters of that individual, and who would come to the conclusion that there was something was wrong. So, yeah, it's pretty difficult.

Peter Biello: Does that then put your group in kind of an informal arbiter position? In other words, if a candidate from any party has a complaint about the election, you could be a voice to say, "No, that that doesn't make sense, what you're saying." Or you could say, "Actually, you have a point. We as a society, as as a state, need to do something about that." Is that a role that your group is prepared to play?

Saxby Chambliss: We are. Yes. I mean, we're not going to be — We're no official in the electoral process. We're not going to be looking over everybody's shoulder to make sure that they're doing what they're supposed to. But if situations arise and allegations are made, then we will be ... I won't say "an arbiter." but we will be looking at the facts as we see them and giving our opinion based upon the many years of experience the four of us have in the electoral process as to whether or not those allegations have some merit or not.

Peter Biello: Another thing that your group hopes to accomplish is raise voter participation. How do you hope to do that?

Saxby Chambliss: We — when we look back at the history [of] the voter participation in Georgia, we've — we're starting to get an increase in voter participation. And we'll remind people about the fact that Americans, particularly in our case, Georgians, have put blood on the battlefield to give us this right that we have to cast our vote for or against any issue or candidate. That's something that you don't find in other countries as a wholesale. You need to be proud of the fact that you have the opportunity to cast a ballot to an individual who is running for public office, and we hope that you will do that.

Peter Biello: How will you measure the success of your group and its mission to promote the integrity of the elections and to get more people to participate?

Saxby Chambliss: As — as I talked about, the fact that we're not going to be looking over the shoulders of individuals who are at the polling places. But if any irregularities that come about during the the process of signing up to qualify for as a voter or if during the, for example, in the early voting period, if some irregularities are raised — are raised by individuals and we decide that among ourselves that "yeah, that's probably got something that we need to take a look at that." And we need to make sure on the Secretary of State's side, that somebody [is] investigating in that. And there are — there are appropriate measures that candidates can be involved in that type of process. That's not going to be something that we are going to decide. It needs to be done by the individuals who are authorized by law. But we will make sure that people who think that they are unfairly treated somehow in the process, that their voice will be heard.

Peter Biello: Well, former Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, member of the Democracy Defense Project, thank you so much for speaking with me.

Saxy Chambliss: Good to be with you, Peter.

Peter Biello: And we'll also mention that we had planned to speak with former Atlanta mayor, Democrat Shirley Franklin. She was unable to join us for the conversation that we had scheduled, but we hope to have her views on the Democracy Defense Project and its work soon.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: In sports: The Marlins shut out the Braves yesterday 9 to nothing, as Max Fried took the loss in his first game since returning from the 15-day injured list. He walked four in the game's first three innings, the second time he's done so over his 141 career starts. Atlanta had not been shut out in a regular season home game since August of 2021. Austin Riley accounted for three of Atlanta's six hits. The Braves have the day off today and will face the Milwaukee Brewers at home tomorrow. Chris Sale is scheduled to get the start.

Peter Biello: And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit GPB.org/news. And if you haven't yet subscribed to this podcast, take a moment now and keep us current in your podcast feed. And if you've got feedback, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email. That's the best way to reach us. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news