Strong storms across north and central Georgia left a trail of damage Thursday evening.
Severe thunderstorms affected parts of metro Atlanta, including Fulton, DeKalb, Henry, Clayton, Gwinnett, Cherokee, Newton and Rockdale counties, while a severe thunderstorm warning lasted about an hour until 7 p.m. afternoon trees to overturn and block roads, according to the National Weather Service.
Several counties in central Georgia were also under a severe thunderstorm warning for hours as storms continued to move southeast and into South Carolina. Showers continued to move toward the coast Thursday afternoon, and are expected to disperse and weaken early Friday morning.
The NWS issued a severe thunderstorm watch until 1 a.m. for the central, east central, north central and west central areas of the state.
The storms, which stretched from the extreme northwest of the state to central Georgia, left thousands without power Thursday evening. As of 10 p.m., more than 130,000 residents across north Georgia were without power, with about 50,000 of those living in Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett, according to The power of Georgia. EMC of Georgia reported about 100,000 outages statewide, with about 70,000 in metro Atlanta.
Officials a Johns Creek, Milton, Woodstock, Dunwoody, Corner, Forsyth County, Hall County, Cherokee County i Cobb County observed several road closures due to fallen trees. While efforts to clear roads were underway after the storms, officials said trees entangled with power lines make the job a bit more tedious.
“If you don’t have to go out and drive, please don’t,” Cherokee officials said as heavy storms began to fall.
In northwest Georgia’s Gordon County, the exterior wall of the Firehouse Gym, located off I-75 in Calhoun, was blown down by high winds, the police department said. No injuries have been reported, but the area remains closed while emergency services work to clear the debris from the road.
Credit: Calhoun Police Department
Credit: Calhoun Police Department
The windy and wet conditions came after a day of extreme heat.
For all but three days this month, the city has recorded highs in the 90s, according to NWS data. That trend continued Thursday with temperatures in the mid-90s, which didn’t break any records, but touched dangerously hot once the ever-present sticky air came into play.
The oppressive heat is part of a wave that has been sweltering across the southern half of the United States for weeks. As many as 80 million people will experience heat indices above 105 degrees over the weekend, and dozens of daily high temperature records are expected to be set, according to the NWS.
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