Mayor Van Johnson is warning residents of Savannah, Georgia, that Tropical Storm Debby may bring an overwhelming amount of rain that the city is not built to handle.
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00:00Joining us now is Mayor Van Johnson of Savannah, Georgia, and thank you for coming on, Mayor.
00:06You have been planning for this for, I'm sure, the past couple of days.
00:11What are you anticipating for your city?
00:13Well, first of all, thank you for checking on us and thank you for the opportunity.
00:19These are the things that I flunked in college about meteorological impacts, and these are
00:23things that smart people talk about as it relates to storms.
00:29We are forecasting a once-in-a-1,000-year storm.
00:34Cities don't even plan for one-in-1,000-year storms.
00:37We're talking about rain going anywhere from 10 inches to 30 inches.
00:43We've experienced heavy rain over the last two weeks, and it's six inches at most.
00:48We can only move about two inches of water an hour, and so this totally overwhelms our
00:54entire system.
00:57Our challenge is that this is a lot of water.
01:00Savannah is low-lying land, and we will literally create islands within islands if this forecasted
01:08rain comes.
01:09Now, you have emergency crews and teams all around.
01:13What have they been doing to prepare?
01:15Well, obviously, Team Savannah has been in Savannah.
01:19We're making sure that storm drains are cleared, making sure conveyances are moved, making
01:25sure that canals are clear as best we can.
01:29Again, this is just the overwhelming amount of water.
01:33We're already under a tornado watch.
01:38We're under a variety of watches already, a tropical storm warning, a storm surge warning,
01:46a flood watch here.
01:48So it's a lot going on here, and our challenge is just making sure that we're able to keep
01:52our citizens safe and also keep our first responders safe in the midst of it.
01:58With regards to your residents and visitors in the area, what do you advise to them during
02:03the course of this storm?
02:04What do you want them to know, and how do you want them to react?
02:08It's here.
02:09Stay in.
02:10Be safe.
02:12You can enjoy Savannah from a window view, and we'll see you on the other side.
02:18All right, Savannah, Georgia Mayor Van Johnson, thank you so much for joining us as we continue
02:23to follow this storm lifting through portions of the Peach State there.