Georgia Today: Burst pipes flooded buildings, new trafficking victim shelter, farmer mental health

Peter Biello: Welcome to the new Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, Dec. 27. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, Atlanta faced an epidemic over the holiday weekend, burst pipes and flooded buildings. Chatham County is getting its first shelter next year that's specifically for child victims of human trafficking. And as we move closer to the year's end, we'll look back at some of our newsroom's most memorable stories that you may have missed. Today, we'll hear how farmers across the state are getting help with their mental health. These stories and more are coming up on Georgia Today.

Story 1

Peter Biello: If you've been on social media at all in the last 48 hours, it's hard to miss all the videos of floods occurring in Atlanta apartment complexes and businesses as frozen pipes thawed and burst after the frigid weekend. Apartment and condo buildings seemed particularly hard hit as frozen sprinklers and pipes burst and flooded hallways, units and lobbies, usually accompanied by blaring fire alarms. Icon Buckhead Peninsula, the Reserve at La Vista Walk, Camden Midtown, Plaza Midtown, Sheraton Atlanta Downtown and Freedom Height Lofts were just some of the buildings damaged by burst pipes. This afternoon, all Fulton County libraries and The Varsity in Midtown Atlanta announced they were closed due to water damage. There were also videos of water cascading through Invesco's headquarters, areas of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Lenox Square in Buckhead, Putt Shack in West Midtown, Steak Market Restaurant in Midtown, Krog Street Market in Inman Park and Georgia State University's downtown campus. Temperatures dropped below freezing for three days, with wind chills reaching below zero. Some Georgia cities and counties have issued boil water advisories after freezing temperatures disrupted water systems. Metro Atlanta's Clayton County Water Authority issued a boil water advisory on Christmas Day for customers with low water pressure. The authority said yesterday in a release the estimated timeline of restoring water is unknown. The Butts County Water and Sewer Authority also has issued a boil water advisory. In a release yesterday, the authority says it's working to resolve loss of water throughout the county believed to be related to a water main break. The authority says water should be boiled for at least one minute after reaching a rolling boil. For information on your area, check your county or city social media pages or website.

Caption

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia David Estes speaks outside the United Way of the Coastal Empire in downtown Savannah on Dec. 8, 2022, about federal funding for Tharros Place.

Credit: Benjamin Payne / GPB News

Story 2

Peter Biello: Savannah's Chatham County will be home next year to a shelter for child victims of human trafficking — the first facility of its kind in the county, GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.

Benjamin Payne: Tharros Place will be a 12-bed shelter for survivors of human trafficking, specifically girls between 11 and 17. The goal goes beyond just providing shelter for these girls, but also transitioning them to a life free from abuse. Julie Wade directs the nonprofit behind Tharros Place, which is slated to open in summer of 2023.

Julie Wade: 15 years ago, we would refer to this situation as child prostitution, and we would lock up these young people in the youth detention center. And it's only recently that the conversation has changed to focus on these young people as victims of rape and assault and trauma. And these young people are getting lots of resources in our state, but yet there are so few beds available in the state.

Benjamin Payne: Only about 50 beds in all of Georgia, she said. Tharros Place has the backing of the federal Department of Justice in the form of a multiyear grant to partially fund operations. For GPB News, I'm Benjamin Payne in Savannah.

Story 3

Peter Biello: Atlanta has been chosen as one of three cities to participate in a program to address racial bias in home valuation. GPB's Orlando Montoya reports a recent study found persistent and widespread undervaluing of homes in communities of color.

Orlando Montoya: The study was published last month by Washington University of St Louis and the housing nonprofit Eruka. It was based on millions of appraisal reports made public for the first time by the Biden administration. It found even when homes, amenities, services and other factors were the same, appraisers assessed homes and white communities twice as much as those in communities of color. The National Urban League's Cy Richardson says the program aims to certify home appraisers from diverse backgrounds.

Cy Richardson: We believe that kind of democratizing and diversifying that space will provide a kind of a more diverse playing field.

Orlando Montoya: Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that 97% of home appraisers are white. Wells Fargo is the Urban League's partner in the five-year, $5 million program in Atlanta, Charlotte and Houston. For GPB News, I'm Orlando Montoya.

Story 4

Peter Biello: Farming can be a tough way to make a living. Increasingly unpredictable weather, fluctuating markets and the challenge of keeping family farms afloat can take a toll on mental well-being. But many Georgia farmers say conversations around mental health didn't take place at the kitchen table growing up. Now, industry leaders are working hard to change that. And a warning: This story makes mention of suicide. GPB's Riley Bunch has more.

Riley Bunch: It's nearly 90 degrees on a Tuesday morning in Alto, Ga., and Drew Echols is trying to spot the perfect peach.

Drew Echols: See if I can find a couple right here.

Riley Bunch: The peach harvest at Jay Moore Farms is on track this year. But last year, a spring freeze wiped out nearly $2 million worth of the crop. Echols, the general manager and fifth generation of his family to run the operation, was worried.

Drew Echols: I'm sitting here thinking, "Oh, my gosh, can I swallow this two years in a row? Can we handle this two years in a row? Can we handle it three years in a row?"

Riley Bunch: The extreme weather dealt a brutal blow not just to the North Georgia producer, but to farmers across the state. More than 40,000 farms contribute to Georgia's $69 billion industry, the state's largest. But with uncontrollable variables like inflation and extreme weather, things can go quickly wrong. And the high-stress occupation takes a toll not just on farmers' physical but also mental well-being. Up until now, the mental health of Georgia's farming community has only been discussed in hushed tones and behind closed doors. Little is known about the level of stress farmers and producers carry and how they cope with it. New research from Mercer University reveals startling numbers: Nearly a third of the state's farmers think about dying by suicide at least once a month. Industry leaders are trying to initiate a conversation about mental health in the agriculture community that farmers say has never existed.

Chris Butts: It's a newer conversation over the last few years, but one thing that was desperately needed.

Riley Bunch: Chris Butts is with the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. He says he worries about his growers who face compounding obstacles, often alone.

Chris Butts: You know, when you're out in rural areas, there's a community and there's certainly an ag community, but you're also more isolated out there. And so we worry that some of these folks, we may not know about some of the challenges that they're having, either professionally or personally.

Riley Bunch: The isolation is coupled with a pervasive stigma around talking about mental health, and a lack of access to mental health care in rural areas is a known problem. The Mercer Research suggests 60% of farmers don't even have access to basic medical care, and those who want to help are struggling to find creative ways to reach farmers where they are. Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black says the state utilizes their biweekly market bulletin that has about 40,000 issues circulated across Georgia.

Gary Black:  We've done some subtle things. We want to make sure that in every one of our issues, there was — somewhere is the 800 number for people. Because they are — they're not going to wear it on their sleeve.

Riley Bunch: Generational farmers live with another layer of stress: keeping the family business alive.

Drew Echols: You can lose, you know, what your family's built over the past century. You can lose it in five years if you're not really careful.

Riley Bunch: But Echols doesn't ever remember talking about the pressure of family tradition with his father or his grandfather. In fact, he doesn't remember the last time he talked about his mental health at all.

Drew Echols: I probably should have talked about this kind of stuff a little bit more. Talk about work a whole lot more than we should, and talk about our physical or mental well-being probably a whole lot less than we should.

Riley Bunch: With a renewed focus on mental health in the state, industry leaders are hoping they can start an important conversation. For GPB News, I'm Riley Bunch.

Story 5

Peter Biello: And finally, the Georgia Bulldogs will take on Ohio State on Saturday at the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. As of this recording, ticket prices on StubHub range from $266 for standing room only, all the way up to $46,000 for a suite level ticket. So if Peach Bowl tickets were on your Christmas list, you've still got time to grab a pair of suite level tickets for yourself and that special someone in your life.

And that is it for today's edition of Georgia Today. For more news from GPB, check out our Georgia Today newsletter at GPB.org/Newsletters and visit our website GPB.org/News any time. Your feedback is appreciated, you can send it to us by email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org.

I'm Peter Biello. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.