Thunderstorms charged through metro Atlanta at 50 mph overnight, producing lightning that set a Gwinnett County home ablaze and injured one firefighter, according to authorities.
Gwinnett fire officials said the lightning struck at around 2 a.m. Wednesday, just a couple of hours after several tornado watches and warnings were issued across North Georgia. The most intense part of the storms, which dropped between 1-2 inches of rain and produced strong winds and hail, hit the area between 11:30 p.m. and 4 a.m., according to the National Weather Service and Channel 2 Action News meteorologists.
When firefighters arrived at the Grouse Court home, flames were billowing from the attic. Crews were searching the house to ensure everyone had gotten out safely when its roof collapsed and injured the firefighter, officials said. He had to be helped out by fellow crew members. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and has since been released. No others were injured.
By 2:30 a.m., the fire was under control, the fire department said. The people who lived there told firefighters their teenage son was still awake when the lightning struck above the kitchen, so he saw the flames and woke up the rest of the family.
The American Red Cross is helping 11 people displaced by the fire, officials said.
Credit: Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services
Credit: Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services
The brunt of the storms had mostly passed the metro area as residents started to wake up, but the early morning commute was impacted by toppled trees and powerlines blocking several roads. Aside from the firefighter, no other injuries have been reported.
A flash flood warning lingered until about 7:30 a.m. for northern portions of the area. In Buckhead, for example, flooding impacted Piedmont Road at Miami Circle, where crews worked to pump water from the road.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
About 9,000 utility customers were without power as the sun rose, but crews have made progress turning the lights back on.
Georgia EMC, which represents the cooperatives that primarily serve rural parts of the state, showed its members had more than 1,000 customers without power as of 11:30 a.m. About half of those outages are in metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Georgia Power reported roughly 3,000 customers without power, with those outages also concentrated in the metro area and northwest Georgia.
At least one radar-confirmed tornado is suspected to have touched down in Butts County, according to Channel 2 meteorologist Brian Monahan. Crews were still assessing the level of damage in that area Wednesday morning.
A radar-indicated twister only means that debris and rotation were detected on radar, pointing to a potential tornado. A tornado warning is issued once a twister has been detected and there is a threat to life and property.
In Gordon and surrounding counties, for example, a tornado warning was issued around 11:30 p.m. Winds there whipped so strong that porch furniture was rearranged at a home on East Plainview Road.
“I peeked out the door, and all of a sudden it just hit like a gale force,” homeowner Justin Henderson told Channel 2.
“The wind was blowing one way, then the wind started coming another way, and it just started pushing everything,” he recounted to the news station. “Cracking of the trees, the furniture and debris coming across the porch.”
According to the Gordon sheriff’s office, the storm damage seems to be concentrated in the Sonoraville community, about 5 miles north of Henderson’s neighborhood.
An incoming cold front should dry us out and lower temperatures later Wednesday, Monahan said. The cooler air will be felt more as the week goes on.
» For a detailed forecast, visit AJC.com/weather.
» For updated traffic information, listen to News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB and follow @WSBTraffic on X.
» Download The Atlanta Journal-Constitution app for weather alerts on-the-go.
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