Trees, power lines down – no injuries

Severe weather hit Houston County around 2 a.m. on Monday with heavy rain, significant straight line winds, lightning and thunder, all of which ended around 4 a.m. Houston County Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director, Christopher Stoner said the county was fairly blessed.

“We did have some significant straight line winds push through along the leading edge of the system, but other than that, we were fairly blessed as some of our area counties did not fair as well.”

Stoner said the reports appeared to be sporadic and varied all over the county. The city of Centerville reported one power line down and two trees down, with one landing on a house. In the unincorporated areas of Houston County, there were three power lines and 22 trees down, with one being reported to be on a house. The city of Perry had one power line down and 10 trees down, and Warner Robins reported one power line and pole down, and nine trees falling, with one that landed on a house.

At around 3:30 a.m. Flint Energies had 7,117 consumer-members without power due to the intensity of the storm system. An hour later there were 8,604 Flint Members without power with 5,803 located in Houston County. Taylor, Peach and Macon counties had approximately 500 outages each. Remaining outages were located in Crawford, Marion, Schley and Talbot counties. Crews were able to make headway with the number of outages at 9:30 a.m. with 1,561 members being without power.

“We a grateful that no injuries were reported,” Stoner said. “The highest wind speed recorded was on Robins Air Force Base and in Bonaire at 54 mph. Again, we were fairly blessed with not having any major damage. Currently (Monday morning) we have a search and rescue team operating in Upson County.”

Atlanta news station CBS46 reported a confirmed tornado touched down in between the cities of Thomaston and The Rock, near the Yatesville area, blowing a home several feet from where it once stood. The home came to a rest in the middle of Highway 74, near Trinity Road. The Upson County Sheriff confirmed with CBS46’s Molly McCollum that no one was in the house at the time of the tornado.

Several tornadoes are believed to have touched down in north Georgia, one of which is responsible for the deaths of five people in Murray County. Another man was killed when a tree came crashing down onto the bedroom of his Carterville home, killing him as he slept.

Governor Brian Kemp’s office reported Monday afternoon that 177,000 Georgians were without power and overnight, there were 40 tornado warnings issued across the state.

“We are praying for those who lost loved ones overnight and the families dealing with severe storm damage. In coordination with private-sector partners, multiple state agencies – including the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, Department of Public Safety, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Transportation, and Georgia Forestry Commission – are working hard to restore power, clear debris, and provide necessary assistance to families across the state,” Kemp said. “This morning, I also spoke with FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor, and I greatly appreciate his offer of federal assistance as we work to rebuild and recover from these storms.”

Kemp declared a statewide state of emergency following the storm damage across Georgia over the last 24-hours.

HHJ News