Dry, calm weather prevailed across metro Atlanta during Thursday’s morning commute, but there’s a chance of another round of afternoon showers and thunderstorms later in the day.
Thursday’s storms should be more scattered, and “not as many as yesterday,” Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said. “We saw rainfall amounts between 1 and 4 inches yesterday.”
Minton put the chance of rain Thursday afternoon at 30 percent, increasing to 40 percent Friday and Saturday and 60 percent Sunday.
Wednesday’s late-afternoon thunderstorms popped up just in time for the evening commute. Heavy rains made a mess of roads and lightning and wind were blamed for toppling trees and igniting fires.
Temperatures hit 90 degrees Wednesday afternoon, triggering a series of thunderstorms that first popped up in south metro Atlanta before hitting most of the metro area.
“They really flared up across north Georgia,” Channel 2 chief meteorologist Glenn Burns said.
The thunderstorms included hundreds of lightning strikes and hail, according to Burns. As the temperatures cooled, storms diminished Wednesday evening. But by then, the storms had already left a trail of damage.
Check today's full weather report and track changes.
Lightning was believed to be the cause of several fires in at least three metro counties. In Union City, a lightning strike sparked a fire at a retirement home. No injuries were reported. A house in Cherokee County was reportedly engulfed in flames after a lightning strike.
In Rockdale County, minor flooding, down trees and power lines were reported in downtown Conyers, which sustained significant damage, the city’s police department said. At least one roof was damaged in the area of Green Street, Main Street and Milstead Avenue. No injuries were reported.
One of the trees that toppled in Conyers fell onto the carport of Debbie Gayler’s Milstead Avenue home.
“It was something else,” Gayler said of Wednesday’s storm. “I couldn’t believe the wind was blowing so hard.”
The trees in her back yard “all looked like they were going to fall, and then we saw the big tree that was beside the carport just slowly crumple over,” Gayler told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Despite the damage, Gayler found a silver lining to the storm.
“We never even lost power after all that happened,” she said. “No one was hurt, and we’re grateful for that.”
During the height of the storm, about 12,000 metro customers lost electricity, according to Georgia Power. Some crews were delayed reaching repairs due to traffic delays from slick roadways.
By daybreak Thursday, the number of Georgia Power customers without electricity was down to under 700.
In Atlanta, police and firefighters responded to numerous calls due to trees down and on power lines, according to Officer John Chafee with Atlanta police. Panels flew from a downtown building near the intersection of Spring Street and Andrew Young International Boulevard, blocking the roadway late Wednesday, he said.
Thursday’s high temperature should again reach 90 degrees, Burns said.
Staff photographer John Spink contributed to this article.
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