A.M. ATL: Aftershocks

Morning, y’all! Did you know there’s a type of apple called the Ludacrisp? I had a few right off the tree in Ellijay this weekend. They’re crisp, sweet and very delicious. Dirty South fed, indeed.

Let’s get to it.

NORTH GEORGIA RECOVERING FROM FLOODS

Parts of North Georgia are facing a long recovery after devastating floods swept through the area late last week and over the weekend.

• McCaysville saw the worst of the flooding when the Toccoa River, which runs through the town, rose to a record high. Fannin, Gilmer, Murray and Union counties were affected.
• At least one person was killed in the rushing waters, and the area was already vulnerable after another catastrophic flood just months ago.
• McCaysville’s police chief said the department “lost everything” during heavy flooding in August, and only recently reopened its renovated police building.

What is a 1,000-year flood?

• The National Weather Service called the current flood a “1,000-year flood.”
• A “1,000-year” event describes something that has a 0.1%, or 1 in 1,000, chance of happening in a given place in any given year. It’s a measure of rarity rather than time, so such events can theoretically occur more often than once a millennium.

For people in the hardest-hit areas, these stats matter less than what’s currently in front of them: waterlogged businesses and storefronts, destroyed homes and communities in need of support.

🔎 READ MORE: ‘It’s a mess.’ McCaysville residents survey the damage

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A CASE THAT COULD CHANGE LANDLORD LIABILITY

In 2017, a 63-year-old man died at Atlanta’s Venetian Hills Apartments after a fire spread through his home. The unit didn’t have smoke detectors, fire alarms or a sprinkler system.

The tragedy prompted an ongoing lawsuit that could reshape accountability laws regarding Georgia landlords.

What happened then, what happens next

• In 2023, a DeKalb County jury found the apartment complex was liable and owed $140 million in damages.
• In 2025, the Georgia Court of Appeals wiped out the ruling, saying Venetian Hills didn’t possess the apartment under state law, but the victim, who leased the unit, did.
• Now, the Georgia Supreme Court is considering whether to restore the original jury verdict.

Who wants what

• A case like this could set a precedent for landlord liability in Georgia.
• Georgia and Atlanta apartment associations want the state’s high court to uphold last year’s ruling.
• Critics say last year’s ruling unfairly saddles tenants with responsibility for property conditions beyond their control.
• One justice also mentioned the man’s lease agreement allowed Venetian Hills’ management to enter the unit unannounced at any time, complicating claims the complex didn’t possess the unit.

A troubled history

• Venetian Hills Apartments was one of many troubled complexes identified in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s 2022 “Dangerous Dwellings” investigation.
• The investigation examined unsafe apartment complexes that profited from tenants while ignoring basic safety standards.

🔎 READ MORE: What justices and lawyers are saying about the case

DEMS TAKE THEIR WINS TO CHURCH

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms and other Democrats gathered Sunday at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church to reflect on their party’s stunning, statewide midterm victories.

• Bottoms described finding her great-great-grandmother Betsy Peek’s grave in Crawfordville, where Peek was enslaved.
• Warnock, who is the senior pastor at Ebenezer, issued a warning alongside the jubilation.
• “Donald Trump is a lame duck president and an old lion who will probably feel cornered,” he said. “I want you to pray, because that is a dangerous situation.”

🔎 READ MORE: Georgia Dems examine victory through a faith-based lens

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

🗳️ A missing memory card with additional votes from Tuesday’s midterms was located in Seminole County during a routine postelection check. The new votes could reverse a Democratic state House win. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is investigating how the error occurred.

⚡ Now that Democrats will make up a majority on Georgia’s Public Service Commission, utility companies are preparing for battles over power bills, clean energy and data center construction. The Georgia PSC, under Republican leadership, enacted six rate hikes in recent years that added about $43 to the monthly bills of ratepayers.

IT’S PANDA TIME

A new royal couple has landed in Atlanta.

Chinese dignitaries, Georgia leaders and throngs of regular ol’ panda fans gathered at Zoo Atlanta this weekend to welcome Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, the zoo’s new panda couple.

🐼 READ MORE: Scenes from the weekend’s panda-monium

• Ping Ping (male) and Fu Shuang (female) are each six years old and hail from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
• They’re enjoying some fancy new digs. After Zoo Atlanta’s previous panda visitors went back to China in 2024, the zoo gave the Arthur M. Blank Panda Grove a $6 million upgrade.
• The two pandas will actually live separately, since they like a lot of alone time. However, the hope is Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will eventually make some brand-new pandas together.

🎋 FREE TO READ: What to know about the new ATL pandas

NEWS BITES

Falcons say they can still turn season around after loss in Madrid

Fun fact: The Spanish word for “defeat” is “derrota.”

Want to fly to the moon? NASA is looking for new astronauts

There are only 32 active astronauts, so they need YOU!

UGA rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 after blowout win over Ole Miss

I don’t like blowout wins. I have this weird superstition that every team is allotted only so many points, and blowout wins dip too far into the imaginary point pile and sow bad karma for future games. But surely this will not happen to Georgia.

Cops discover massive stash of meth disguised as cabbage in Athens

This is the opposite of whatever goes on at Babyland General Hospital.

ON THIS DATE

Nov. 9, 1998

Kids tuning out TV. American children today spend less time watching television than they did in the early 1980s, with more time devoted to sports and schoolwork, according to a national study released today. … One fixture of modern life — computers — has had only a moderate impact on the average child’s day. The typical 6-year-old, for example, spends a half-hour each week on the computer, while a 12-year-old spends an hour and 12 minutes.