Episode Details

On the Tuesday, October 8th edition of Georgia Today: GEMA response to Hurricane Milton; and Atlanta's pandas are headed home.

Orlando Montoya: Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Tuesday, Oct. 8. I'm Orlando Montoya. With another hurricane headed towards the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Helene, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency has been very busy. On this episode, we'll get a glimpse of how GEMA is helping Georgians while preparing for more evacuees from Florida, Georgia Power's answer to the crisis, and the emotional toll all of this is taking on some people. Plus, Atlanta's pandas are headed home. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Orlando Montoya: Officials in Florida are ordering many residents to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton. But parts of South Georgia, where they normally go, are still without power and water after Hurricane Helene. Georgia Emergency Management Agency director Chris Stallings is advising evacuees to avoid areas hit by Halloween, like Valdosta and others preparing for Milton impacts like Brunswick.

Chris Stallings: Make sure you get further north, not just for hospitality and room availability, but also so that you're completely out of the way of the storm. I'd hate for you to evacuate Florida only to come to Georgia and not get far enough north and you're impacted here.

Orlando Montoya: This hurricane season has been especially busy for GEMA. Tropical Storm Debby and then Hurricane Helene blew through the state in quick succession, slowing down applications for much-needed disaster relief. Stallings applauds the efforts of his partners at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Chris Stallings: They're in office with us right now. We've got a full team. There's about 40, maybe 45 members of FEMA downstairs right now that are working very hard to — to make sure we've got recovery efforts going on in Georgia.

Orlando Montoya: The head of FEMA says misinformation about the government's response to Helene is, quote, "absolutely the worst" she's ever seen. FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell today said the rumors are hurting morale among responders and prompting people not to ask for help.

Deanne Criswell: This one is at a level that I honestly have never seen before. I anticipated some of this, but not not to the extent that we're seeing it.

Orlando Montoya: Some of the false claims are linked to comments made by former President Donald Trump and his supporters. FEMA has had rumor control pages in the past to deal with false websites and fraud.

Caption

Satellite image of Hurricane Milton on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024.

Credit: NOAA

Story 2:

Orlando Montoya: Some interstate highways were jammed and many flights were canceled today, as travel between Georgia and Florida becomes increasingly difficult ahead of Hurricane Milton. The storm is expected to make landfall on Florida's west coast tomorrow. Georgia 511 this afternoon showed Interstate 75 northbound slow north of Valdosta, north of Macon and north of Atlanta. And the state of Georgia's Welcome Center at Valdosta was closed because of a plumbing issue. GPB's Grant Blankenship spoke with evacuees at a rest stop near Macon. Kelsey