Chatham County officials held a press briefing to provide an update on safety and preparations for Tropical Storm Debby after it made landfall as a hurricane in Florida.
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NewsTranscript
00:00≫
00:30Thank you for attending the 11 a.m. press conference for Chatham County and its municipalities.
00:36I would like to give you an update on the storm.
00:39On the graphic behind me you see the 11 a.m. update for Hurricane Debbie.
00:43Overnight it did become a hurricane.
00:45It made landfall this morning on the panhandle of Florida.
00:49It's currently making its way across the panhandle of Florida.
00:52It's anticipated to arrive in Georgia as far as the center of circulation sometime overnight
00:58into Tuesday.
01:01So we are preparing for that.
01:03We do have an emergency declaration in place not only from the state but we also have the
01:08county's emergency declaration in place.
01:10We have four municipalities who have likewise issued an emergency declaration as well.
01:16The city of Tybee Island, the city of Savannah, the city of Pooler and the city of Port Wentworth
01:20all have emergency declarations in place as well.
01:24So currently we do have our emergency operations center activated.
01:28We are monitoring the current conditions as well as the anticipated conditions of Hurricane
01:34Debbie as it makes its way across southeast Georgia.
01:38We are anticipating that we will go into a tropical storm, well, we will remain in a
01:45tropical storm warning at least through tomorrow afternoon.
01:49We are also in a storm surge warning.
01:52This morning we were placed in a tornado watch that is scheduled to expire at 4 p.m. but
01:57I do anticipate that that will either be extended or another tornado watch will be issued for
02:03coastal Georgia.
02:05As this storm moves closer to us it does have a significant tornado potential associated
02:10with it.
02:11So we are expecting tropical storm force winds starting tonight around 11 p.m. and continuing
02:18at least till the morning hours of Tuesday morning.
02:21A large portion of rain is expected to really influence the road networks throughout Chatham
02:28County starting tonight and we are anticipating the rainfall to continue at various levels
02:34of intensity through Thursday, which is why we have issued the emergency declaration.
02:41I mentioned yesterday that we are expected to see unprecedented levels of rainfall and
02:48unprecedented flooding potential throughout Chatham County.
02:52So we have been working with our elected officials, we've been working with our public safety
02:57partners throughout the county as well as throughout the region to make sure that everybody
03:02is aware of what the conditions are.
03:04They have moved all of their response assets into places that are strategically located
03:09throughout the county to make sure that we can respond appropriately and effectively
03:13to areas in which we feel like could be potential issues.
03:18With this unprecedented rainfall we do anticipate there are going to be areas that flood that
03:22traditionally don't flood.
03:25We've got all of the municipalities have public works representatives located in our emergency
03:30operations center so we can maintain and maximize our situational awareness throughout the county.
03:35So as a community overall I think we are prepared for this storm.
03:40All of our public safety, our public works, our elected officials, all of our partners
03:45throughout the entirety of the county are ready for this storm so we will put all preparedness
03:50measures that we can put in place are in place.
03:54Coordination efforts have been taking place since Saturday morning, we'll be wrapping
03:59up a few of those coordination efforts today making sure that we've got everything in place.
04:04We do have several partners with us today behind me, they all show in their support
04:08for the direction of the county and I would like to invite up our Chatham Area Transit
04:14for an announcement on CATS services.
04:16Good morning, currently the plan for Chatham Area Transit is to pull all buses off of the
04:25street by 6 p.m. today, there will be no service on Tuesday or Wednesday and that's contingent
04:35upon of course how the water is.
04:38Water of course pose major damage to our rolling stock.
04:42The same schedule is in place for our ferry service as well.
04:48Thank you Ms. Cutter, as I mentioned earlier the City of Savannah does have a state of
04:57emergency in effect and Mayor Johnson would like to address some issues from the City
05:01of Savannah.
05:04Thank you, good morning, thank you Mr. Chairman, Mr. Cagler, Director Jones and my colleagues
05:11from across Chatham County for their leadership and their support in challenging times.
05:18For us, the City of Savannah has issued a curfew that will go from 10 o'clock p.m. to
05:256 a.m. consistent with the rest of our partners in Chatham County.
05:31This is nothing to play with.
05:34If you don't have to be on the street, then don't be on the street.
05:38If you have to go to work, if you have an emergency, I mean whatever the case may be,
05:41this curfew is not for us for a pipe dream, it's for us to make sure there's as few people
05:46on the street as possible, we want to ensure that our emergency responders are as safe
05:50as possible, they have families too, we don't want to put them in danger trying to get you.
05:56So for us, we're asking, you don't have to be on the streets, Dennis has just said at
06:0111 o'clock, we're expecting these storms, it's been raining pretty hard, there's already
06:05some localized flooding in some areas already, and so we know the next 11 hours this is going
06:11to get really worse, so we're asking our folks to please, if you don't have to be out, don't.
06:18But then to our local businesses, we have a responsibility to keep our employees safe,
06:23you have a responsibility to keep your employees safe.
06:25So I mean, if you just, if you just can, we're asking that you show your employees
06:32some grace by allowing them to be able to leave and get home in a safe manner.
06:37Ultimately, there's always tomorrow after this, and we have to get to that.
06:41The city has four sandbag locations, yesterday I think they were all depleted, there was
06:46a great response, I thank everyone for coming out and doing that, we will be replenishing
06:51those today, we will release a schedule when it becomes available.
06:55We're certainly very concerned about our homeless neighbors, so the Chattanooga-Savannah homeless
07:01department is looking at plans to be able to provide shelter for those who are affected,
07:10and so we're checking that out as well.
07:12And we're asking everyone also to make sure, we have seniors, we have those who are fragile
07:16in our community, we have people who are widows and widowers, and those who just need
07:23somebody to call.
07:26We're all in this together, we're all going in together, we all have to come out of it
07:32together.
07:34Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
07:35The mayor mentioned about the four locations in the city of Savannah for sandbags, there's
07:38actually 11 locations throughout the county.
07:42Any citizen who wishes to fill some sandbags, I encourage you to get with your municipality
07:46to find out where their location is.
07:49Port Wentworth has asked me to announce that they did run out of sand yesterday, they have
07:53already replenished those sites, they've got two sites in Port Wentworth, so those sites
07:57are ready to go, those sites are ready to go again.
08:01So next I'd like to invite up the mayor for the city of Puller, Mayor Williams, to make
08:05an announcement.
08:07Good morning everybody, I'd like to announce that I am here today, I'm joined by our Chief
08:13of Police Ashley Brown, and I would like to make the announcement that our city council
08:19meeting that was scheduled for tonight at 6pm, because of the changes in the decisions
08:27that the county has made, we are rescheduling that for Monday, August 12th at 6pm.
08:33The city staff continues to work with SEMA and will have representatives at the SEMA EOC.
08:40Our sand that we had in Puller was replenished several times yesterday, we were back out
08:44there with a fresh load this morning at 8am, so if you need sandbags, we still have them
08:50at the Puller Rec on Rogers Street in the parking lot.
08:55And that's all I have for today, thank you very much.
09:04So, as I'm learning, municipalities in the county are providing the sand and the sandbags.
09:14For those who are interested in getting sandbags, you'll need to bring your own shovel.
09:18We don't have a large contingency of shovels, so that is a condition of being able to get
09:23some sandbags.
09:24So municipalities in the county are providing sand and sandbags, but please bring your own
09:27shovel.
09:29Alright, last, to wrap it all up, I'd like to turn it over to Chairman Ellis.
09:37Good morning.
09:38Good morning.
09:39Good morning.
09:40This morning we have gathered after we've had a command policy call meeting this morning.
09:48We've continuously briefed on what the conditions are that come before us, and so we've come
09:55together now to issue this resolution declaring a continuous state of emergency due to the
10:02Tropical Storm Debbie and the implementation of a mandatory curfew beginning August 5th,
10:092024 at 10pm and continuing until August 6th, 2024 at 6pm.
10:18All of the municipalities will then also put in a curfew.
10:24I heard the mayor from Savannah say that they are going to put in their curfew, will
10:27go into effect, everyone's curfew will go into effect at 10 o'clock tonight because
10:33the information that we have, alright, that's coming to us from the National Weather Service
10:39Station and from our partners tells us when this rain should hit us, this wind should
10:45hit us somewhere by 11pm tonight, and it's going to be a blinding rain, so it's going
10:52to be hard for folks to be driving or walking in the rain, and you won't be able to see
10:58in front of you, and we take into consideration those of our officers and things that we need
11:03to have on the streets, so we're asking folks to go home and hunker down, and please ma'am,
11:11please sir, observe the curfew in every municipality in this county and the county-wide curfew
11:20because we're trying to keep you safe, and in order to do that, we have to make hard
11:25decisions, we have to make decisions in real time, alright, and this is one of those real-time
11:30things as we get more information and we get in briefed by the National Weather Service
11:35Station, I'm not saying things won't change, but as of right now, the reason for us coming
11:41together is to give you updates as we get updates in our EOC Center, as they get updates
11:50and they're informed as to what is going on, and you heard Director Jones say that even
11:58the tornado warning is expected to be extended past the 4 o'clock hour that it is now, that's
12:05because things are changing rapidly. We don't know whether this storm is going to speed
12:09up or slow down, but one of the things we do know is that we have been advised by the
12:15National Weather Service that it may stall out in our area, which will create flooding
12:21where there's never been flooding before, and so we want to make sure that we have people
12:26in safe places so that we can account for them. We ask neighbors, please be neighbors
12:34and check on all of your neighbors, especially the elderly neighbors that's in your neighborhood.
12:39Please check on those folks between tonight, as this storm comes in, and tomorrow, and
12:46then again tomorrow into Wednesday as we proceed through this. So there is a chance that this
12:52curfew will be extended, but we'll take that up again tomorrow when the Command Policy
12:57Group meets. At this time, if there are any questions from the media, I entertain it while
13:02I'm signing the sign in the curfew order.
13:07More for the City of Savannah. Can you talk about the work that has gone on to clear the
13:16stormwater drains and prepare the pump stations? I mean, we saw what happens on just a typical
13:22summer day just the other day with some of the neighborhoods, so what are you all expecting
13:26as far as flooding potential goes in the preparedness of the stormwater infrastructure?
13:30Thank you for the question. Jay Melder, City Manager, City of Savannah. Our Water Resources
13:37Department, our stormwater crews, our water and sewer infrastructure teams have been out
13:41for the last 10 days clearing all of our storm drains, trying to get to as many catch basins
13:48as we can. I think there's a total of about 14,000 catch basins within the city. We have
13:53several pumps in our canals. We've been running those pumps, lowering the waters in all of
13:58our canals, expecting for the heavy storms. We also want our community members to help
14:05out and make sure that the storm drains in front of their homes are clear of the debris
14:09that they can get out, that their garbage cans and other debris are secured so that
14:14they don't fall over and spill into our stormwater drains and become a problem or drainage issues
14:18as the event unfolds. Of course, our stormwater system in the City of Savannah can handle
14:23about 2 to 2.5 inches of rain per hour before we start seeing street flooding. We know where
14:29the street flooding usually happens. With what's been forecasted and what the National
14:33Weather Service has called historic or unprecedented rainfall totals for our area, with a probability
14:41of less than 1% happening on any given year in our area, this is a once-in-a-thousand-year
14:47potential rainfall event. We have to be mindful of that. We're going to make sure that
14:53everything is in place, our system is working as well as it can be. With that much water,
14:59we are going to see flooding. We're going to see street flooding. We're going to see
15:02street flooding where flooding always happens during summer thunderstorms, and we're going
15:06to see flooding where we don't see flooding most often. So be aware of what's happening
15:12on your street. Be aware of what's happening in your neighborhood. Call 311. Use the 311
15:18app. Let us know what you're seeing so that we can respond to those events. And if it's
15:22an emergency, please call 911.
15:24Jake Shore with The Current. I think we all know what a curfew is, but I'm hoping you
15:31might be able to be a little bit more clear about what the – is this a specifically
15:36like enforceable thing? If you're driving past 11 p.m. and Chatham County or Savannah
15:42police officer sees you, is that a ticketable thing? What does it mean in practice?
15:47What it means in practicality is that what the law enforcement officer will do, those
15:53who are traveling to and from work, all right, you may be just getting off at work at 11,
15:59and so you'll be able to pass with no problems. But what we want to do is clear the street
16:03of the folks who linger, all right, folks who just want to go around and see, all right,
16:08because some of them don't have good intentions. So the officers will have the discretion as
16:14to how we do this and who they encounter on the streets. This is designed to keep folks
16:22safe, all right. If any of you have ever driven, and I know I have, all right, I've been driving
16:28and I had to pull over because the rain was so intense. You couldn't see in front of
16:33you, all right, and so that will minimize accidents, all right, and it will minimize
16:38even folks running off the road, because I remember when it rained so hard until right
16:45behind the Overthought Mall, all right, right behind Emmanuel Church, folks went in that
16:50ditch, okay, and had to be pulled out. Those are the kinds of things we are preventing.
16:54This is not a martial law type thing, but it's designed to help us to move our system
17:02around the county safer, all right. That's what the purpose for the curfew is, to get
17:07folks out of the way of what you've never seen before, all right. This type of rain
17:13hovering over us, coming with the intensity that they tell us that it's coming, it's gonna
17:18catch a whole lot of people by surprise. So we're trying to make decisions that will help
17:23you to be safe.
17:26And then just quickly, I'm hoping one of y'all can expand a little bit on the Savannah-Chatham
17:32Homeless Authority plans. I know Mayor Johnson mentioned it, but any specifics y'all can
17:37provide?
17:38Well, our homeless citizens are those at risk most, because they don't have the shelters,
17:43and so we are working with the Homeless Authority to get them into a shelter. And the Homeless
17:49Authority, they didn't get here, all right, so we are still continuously in the ELC Center,
17:56we're continuously talking to them of how we help to get folks into places of safety
18:03in our homeless population. How that looks, I think will determine this, make a decision
18:10as we go, because some of them are gonna be resistant to moving from where they are, and
18:16we understand that. But we are going to make the effort to get them into a safer place.
18:22We also have, we have a street team that is out, they know these individuals by name,
18:34and so the goal is, and probably rightfully so, their time needs to be, literally, interacting
18:41with people. We'll have them report up what they're doing, but the fact is they have a
18:45very small window to ensure people are secure, because we have to get that staff up as well,
18:50Jim.
18:51Go ahead.
18:52I can add some information to that, I'll share a flyer that our partners at the Homeless
18:58Authority are sharing to customers of the homelessness system, and we can make sure
19:04that the flyer gets out to media as well. For Tropical Storm Debbie, the emergency shelter
19:09information from August 5th to August 7th, of course we have the Union Mission, Grace
19:14House, 125th Street, Salvation Army, 3100 Montgomery Street, Come As You Are, 4429 Skid
19:22Away Road, Family Promise, which has numerous facilities and programs. For folks who are
19:32experiencing homelessness, or people who are trying to help someone experience homelessness,
19:36they can call our Homeless Authority for help with transport or outreach, and that number
19:42is 912-675-9027. Again, 912-675-9027, and we're really appreciative of the Homeless
19:55Authority's help and all of our service providers in the homelessness space.
20:00Anything else? Yes, sir.
20:03Quick question. For more countywide, I know the city has released several of those problem
20:08areas that are prone to flooding, but for people throughout the county, outside of
20:12the city of Savannah, I know you mentioned that this is a storm where places that don't
20:18normally experience flooding are going to, but are there any places that people should,
20:23you're looking at with major concern countywide?
20:26Sure. The area you take, for instance, our outlying areas, let's take Burnside Island
20:33for instance. Burnside Island will normally flood when there is not just a high tide,
20:45when you have a king tide. The road there will probably flood, and so we're looking
20:50at that as one of the areas that we need to pay a whole lot of attention to. Isle of Hope,
20:56Dutch Island, Skid Away Island, parts of Whitmarsh Island, also on the other side of
21:09the road going down, Wilmington Island, Tallahee, and those areas. Those areas which commonly
21:20does flood or just accumulate water, we're looking at all of those, and then we're looking
21:27at the water. When they get filled, the water's got to still go somewhere. And so we're looking
21:32for it to come even further inland, so on the west side, we're looking out at Little
21:38Necker Road, Chevis Road, Quarco Road, John Carter Road, all around Stell Park for waters
21:47and things, and that goes to our municipalities and things on the west side, Bloomingdale
21:54and Port Wentworth and Pula and the City of Savannah and Unincorporated. We're looking
21:57at all those things that normally flood. There is a great chance that they will have even
22:03more water than before, and that's what I mean. There are some new subdivisions that
22:08have been built on the west side, and they've had flooding issues in the past, and so we
22:15look forward to them having these kinds of flooding issues now, because the water's coming.
22:23The storm has already proved that the water's coming. If you watch the news, the national
22:28news this morning as to what happened around Fort Myers and the rest of it, we can expect
22:32some of that same stuff here today.
22:35Yes, sir.
22:38We talked about what people can be doing yesterday. Now that we're getting some of those outer
22:41bands in our region, I mean, what can people be doing today? I know a lot of people are
22:44off work, school. How can they best prepare today?
22:48That's one of the reasons that all of us have come up with the sandbags. There are places
22:55at homes who are ground level. You probably need to put sandbags at your doors for water
23:05that will show up. Also, what we're trying to do is make sure that folks get in a place
23:11of comfort, because there are streets that may not have flooded before that probably
23:17will flood this time, but if we're more prepared and you're more ready for it, then you could
23:22– there'll probably even be some businesses that need to have sandbags to block their
23:28doorways and things so that water wouldn't come up under their waterways.
23:36Any other questions?
23:40Yes, ma'am.
23:41For people's vehicles, where should they park? Because usually it floods and they get
23:45scattered around. Should they park in parking garages or just leave their car where it is?
23:50That's a $64,000 question. The reason I say that is because parking is limited. Even if
24:00we say to you, you can take your cars to the city parking garage or the county parking
24:07garage, and then they flood. I can remember well when folks thought it was all right to
24:14leave their cars down on River Street, and all of a sudden it was rubed deep in water.
24:21We don't know exactly where this water is going, but we do know it's going somewhere.
24:26For most people, I think, if you just park your car in your driveway or somewhere on
24:31the street, you may even have to move it from one end of your street to another because
24:37the south end may flood and the north end may not flood, so it's just a matter of moving.
24:41They have to pay attention to how the water is building up. That's why I say it's a
24:47$64,000 question, because you're going to have to do this in real time. If I was able
24:52to predict what street was going to flood and what, then I could tell people don't
24:56park on that one. I know sometimes coming down Drayton Street, it's a challenge. Going
25:03on East Henry Street, when you pass Atlantic and go under the subway, there's probably
25:08no place to go during this time. The road to Burnside Island, those on the inside probably
25:14won't get out, and those on the outside probably won't get in when this water gets here.
25:19For Anderson Street, me and my photographer were out there earlier. We saw the drains.
25:23They were trying to get rid of all the debris inside. Is it okay for it to be left out?
25:27Because I know the dirt is not covering that up. Is that okay during storms?
25:31You mean to leave it open?
25:32Yeah.
25:33No. We don't want anybody falling in it. That's why there's a cover on it. We want
25:39the passageway for the water to go through, but we can't just leave it open because then
25:44somebody might drive into it or somebody might walk into it because we don't know
25:48who's walking and who's driving. No, that's not a good idea just to leave it open.
25:52Okay. Well, Anderson Street.
25:54Anderson Street. That's one of those things you give to the city manager.
26:00Okay.
26:01All right.
26:02Mr. Chairman, let me just add about the parking garage.
26:04Sure. Go on.
26:05Thank you. Just to reiterate what the chairman's saying, everybody's going to be worried about
26:10their cars. I wouldn't park it in a place that you know is going to flood. Keeping it
26:14close to the house is probably the best scenario, but certainly don't try to move your car
26:19once the storm starts coming. That's the whole point of the curfew. We want people
26:23to be moving as little as possible. The parking garages for the city, especially downtown
26:30parking garages, will be free for parking beginning at five o'clock today. The bottom
26:36floors of those parking lots, if you flood them, they will be cordoned off, so please
26:39don't park your car on the bottom floor of any city garage. We've also closed the
26:44parking lots on River Street. We've done that several days ago in anticipation for
26:49the storm, and I think the most important thing is if you're going to do anything with
26:53your car, do it now, but otherwise, you know, don't start moving it once the rain comes
26:59and the storm event comes. We want you to be in safe and off the roads. Those are going
27:04to be the most dangerous places to be.
27:05The street sweepers for the city, are they running during this time?
27:10They ran last night. We'll cease normal operations today at five, so no street sweeping
27:16tonight. We are scheduled to resume pending the impacts of the storm on Wednesday, but
27:22we'll make that call later today whether or not we'll have sanitation and street
27:26cleanings services on Wednesday, but tonight those operations have been suspended. Today
27:32we are doing a full sanitation pickup across the city of Savannah, so if you have a Monday
27:37collection date, your trash and your recycling is being collected. And again, just a reminder
27:43for folks to secure your trash bins, especially if they've got trash in them. So secure them,
27:51make sure that they're not going to become a hazard in the streets or debris that's
27:56going to collect in our catch basins.
28:01Finally, we've gotten a lot of calls this morning about Highway 80 out to Tybee. What's
28:06the threshold for closing that highway, if at all, and is that something you all are
28:10preparing for at this point?
28:12Highway 80 going out to Tybee with a king tide normally gets water encroachment around
28:179.3 feet. Thankfully, the tide sequence is not something that we're too concerned about.
28:24Out further toward the island, the water has a lot of different places to go, but if
28:28it does start to encroach into Tybee Island, that's when law enforcement or the Georgia
28:33Department of Transportation will make a decision to close that roadway. Oftentimes they leave
28:38a small pathway. If it doesn't have water encroachment across the entire road, they'll
28:43leave a small pathway open to get traffic flow to and fro, but if it does become completely
28:50impassable, then DOT or law enforcement will make the decision to close the roadway.
28:58Again, let me stress to the citizens of Chatham County, alright, now is the time for us to
29:04be prepared. We've been preparing for hurricanes, but now this is coming early, because normally
29:11we get a chance to watch August and September go by, but this time we don't have that option.
29:18And so, from today on, let us prepare ourselves, even as we go into the hurricane season,
29:24because we don't know the intensity of any storm until it gets here. But, there are things
29:31that you can do. Make sure your medication is up on time, alright? Make sure you have
29:36all the supplies that you have. Expect some outages, alright? Sometime tonight or early
29:45tomorrow, expect some power outages. Judge Powell is working on that. They have the folks
29:52staging areas. And so, this team, along with all the other partners we have in the command
29:58office, are working to do the best we can. And we are working from the worst scenario
30:03to the best scenario, alright? So that we probably can dot all the I's and cross all
30:08the T's. Again, let me say thank you and let everyone be safe, alright? Thank you.