More strong storms on the way

By MIKE MORRIS

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Strong thunderstorms that swept through metro Atlanta Tuesday night brought down trees in DeKalb County, and more rain moved into Georgia from the west before daybreak Wednesday.

Georgia Power spokeswoman Carol Boatright said about 4,000 of the utility’s customers lost electricity when the storms moved across DeKalb around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

About 2,900 customers in the Tucker area were still in the dark at 5 a.m. Wednesday, but repair crews restored service to those homes by 7 a.m.

The storms toppled a huge tree onto the Decatur rental home owned by Joseph Almand.

Almand, 89, drove to Decatur from his home in Loganville Wednesday morning to survey the damage.

“It’s an act of God,” Almand said. “Nothing anyone could have done about it.”

Almand said his tenants were inside the brick ranch house on Aldea Drive when the tree came down Tuesday night.

“They’re okay, thank goodness,” he said.

Another round of rain began moving into Georgia from Alabama around daybreak Wednesday.

At 10 a.m., a large area of rain and thunderstorms stretched from near Montgomery north along I-85 to southern metro Atlanta, while other storms were scattered across the northern suburbs.

The forecast for metro Atlanta calls for a 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms on Wednesday, diminishing to 40 percent overnight before climbing back to 60 percent on Thursday.

Highs will be in the low to mid-80s, with lows in the upper 60s.

A good chance of rain remains in the forecast into the weekend, the National Weather Service said.

Forecasters pegged the chance of rain at 60 percent Friday, 50 percent Saturday and 40 percent Sunday.

Weekend highs will be in the mid- to upper 80s, with lows in the upper 60s.

Staff photographer Vino Wong contributed to this article.