After rain, high winds hit metro Atlanta

Still feeling the effects of a two-day soaking, the metro Atlanta area was buffeted by high winds Wednesday afternoon that downed trees and power lines and briefly entrapped children on a DeKalb County school bus.

Wind gusts caused live power lines to fall on the bus north of Chamblee at around 2:25 p.m., said DeKalb Fire Rescue Department Capt. Eric Jackson.

PHIL SKINNER / pskinner@ajc.com

A family of ducks swim past a sign announcing that the Big Creek Greenway in Alpharetta is closed due to flooding.

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Neither the driver nor the 30 Montgomery Elementary School students on the bus were hurt. At the time, the National Weather Service in Peachtree City reported gusts of 30 to 40 mph across the metro Atlanta area.

“If we had stepped on the ground, we’d get electrocuted,” said Jack Noland, an 8-year-old who was on the bus.

His 9-year-old brother, Sam, said the children were told to stay in the middle of the bus and not touch the sides.

“I remember the bus driver telling us we were going to make it,” Sam said. “We were on the bus so long, I got most of my homework done.”

The wind also knocked out electricity to about 5,100 metro-area homes. It was unclear Wednesday evening when service would be restored, said Georgia Power spokeswoman Christy Heiser.

Meanwhile, parts of North Georgia — including north Fulton, Cherokee and Forsyth counties — remained under a flood watch as the Etowah River, Big Creek and smaller streams overflowed.

Flooding and road closings shut down schools Wednesday in Catoosa, Gordon and Walker counties in North Georgia and caused minor flooding elsewhere in the northwest part of the state. Rainfall totals there ranged from 2 to 4 inches, according to the Weather Service.

Heavy rains caused problems across the nation’s South, including a landslide that destroyed a home in the mountains of western North Carolina. Nearly 20,000 customers lost power in North and South Carolina by midmorning as crews scrambled to restore service.

Flooding also was reported in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

The biggest threat in metro Atlanta remained Big Creek near Alpharetta, which was about 3 feet above flood level Wednesday evening. Local authorities reported no injuries or emergencies as a result of the high water, and the Weather Service expected the stream to fall below flood stage by 7 p.m. Thursday.

There was some good news to the wet and windy weather: The two days of rain were predicted to add up to 3 feet of water to parched Lake Lanier.

The metro area is expected to dry out a little the rest of the week, with a 40 percent chance of rain Saturday. Temperatures will return to normal, with highs in the 50s and lows around 30.

- Staff reporters Marcus K. Garner, Doug Nurse, David Simpson and Mike Morris and the Associated Press contributed to this story.