Powerful pre-dawn storms left at least 13 homes in Clayton County unlivable, damaged homes and trees in South Fulton, Douglas and Carroll counties and killed two people in central Georgia, authorities said.

"It was not the wind. There's no way. It had to be a tornado," said Mila Freeman, whose home in the Stagecoach Village subdivision in the Ellenwood area of Clayton County was among those severely damaged Sunday morning. Freeman and her husband and four children were not home and planned to move in with relatives.

One of her neighbors, Andrew Dickerson, said he took refuge in a bathroom when the storm hit at about 5:30 a.m. It blew down one side of his home and damaged the other. He, too, was convinced it was a tornado. He ruefully noted that found his wallet amid debris but the money had been blown out of it.

There were no reports of injuries in the metro Atlanta area, but authorities said two people were found dead in the rubble of a mobile home near Dublin in central Georgia as the same line of storms moved through downstate. Two children in the mobile home survived. The town of Kite, northeast of Dublin, was heavily damaged, according to an Associated Press report.

Georgia Power said about 18,000 customers in metro Atlanta and more than 60,000 in the Macon area were without power Sunday morning.

The storms were part of a major system that had raked the nation's midsection on Saturday, killing at least 21 people, mostly in Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas.

By daybreak Sunday the storms had already left metro Atlanta. Skies cleared by midday and the forecast high was 78. A wind advisory was posted for Sunday night, with a forecast overnight low of 51.

The National Weather Service was investigating whether any tornadoes touched down in Georgia and expected to reach a conclusion later Sunday.

The storms tracked a west-to-east line across the southern metro area and spawned damaging winds in Carroll County on the Alabama line, Douglas County, South Fulton and the northern tip of Clayton.

In Douglas County, downed trees closes some roads and damage was reported to homes and cars in two subdivisions, including St. Andrews Country Club.

There were also reports of homes damaged and trees downed in adjacent Carroll County, where officials said five homes were severely damaged in the Bowdon area close to the Alabama state line, as well as in South Fulton.

In Clayton, which appeared to suffer the biggest concentration of damage, the hard-hit area was along Stagecoach Road between Panola and Rex roads, officials said.

In addition to Stagecoach Village, homes in Katherine Village and Rex Mill Terrace subdivisions also were damaged.

Jennifer Barker, who lives with her kids in the Stagecoach Village neighborhood, said she was awakened by "the worst sound I've ever heard."

"I couldn't move from where I was. I didn't know what to do. It was horrible."

Her home took a relatively minor hit, with damage to shingles and siding.

Like many residents, she focused on the lack of injuries.

"It may not be the Mother's Day you wanted, but we have a lot to be thankful for. We're still alive."

Landry Merkison, a fire captain with Clayton Emergency Services, said 11 homes in one of the subdvisions and at least two in another "rendered unsound, not livable." Others sustained lesser damage.

Trees were sheared, power lines downed and debris strewn across the damaged areas. But the damage was isolated to pockets within each subdivision, with nearby homes virtually untouched.

By midday Sunday, residents were busily putting up tarps and cleaning up debris. A motorcycle club, #1 Stunnas, had planned a Mother's Day event in Convington but answered a member's call to come to Clayton County to hand out water to people affected by the storms.

"You see people like this on a day that's supposed to be special." said Kimberly Allison, who text-messaged her fellow club members. "How could you not come over and help them?"

Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill said he planned to have officers in the area to secure property.

The Red Cross set up an aid center nearby, at a new Wal-Mart on Anvil Block Road.

"This is a situation that isn't going to remedied in just a few hours," Merkison said.