On the Friday, Sept. 27 episode of Georgia Today: Governor 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, September 27th. 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: Governor 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 two 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 100mph 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 Debbie 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 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 tree 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 if you know which I don't know.

Grant Blankenship: But what? Insurance companies say anything.

Roderick Stephens: And I ain't talking about it right now. Oh. Oh, they're figured out in Libya right now. Just surprised to see all this going on.

Grant Blankenship: Yeah. Bill Laird is emergency management director for Lawrence 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 Lawrence County can recover.

Bill Laird: We are 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 two 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, Debbie 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.

Caption

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announces an agreement that he and DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond reached that will allow construction to move forward on a planned law enforcement training center.

Credit: Emma Hurt via Twitter

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 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.

Caption

FOX Weather meteorologists Bob Van Dilsen rescued a woman trapped in her car on a flooded road early on Friday, Septemb