4 tornadoes, including EF3, confirmed across 4 Georgia counties

Residents were recovering Friday from powerful storms that marched through metro Atlanta and North Georgia the previous day, leaving behind a swath of damage.

The National Weather Service, which had reported seven radar-confirmed tornadoes in the state Thursday, began to confirm those Friday. Two people have been confirmed dead, including a 5-year-old in Butts County.

The storms, which prompted Gov. Brian Kemp to declare a state of emergency, left tens of thousands of Georgia residents without power and dozens without homes. Multiple school districts were closed Friday.

[6:35 p.m.]: Four tornadoes have been confirmed by the NWS as the agency continues to assess damage and determine the total number that touched down throughout the state.

In addition to an EF3 tornado on the west side of Griffin, an EF2 touched down on the east side of Spalding County, according to the NWS. Major damage was seen near Arthur K. Bolton Parkway and South McDonough Road. The agency said it is still analyzing the exact path of both storms.

An EF2 was confirmed in southeast LaGrange in the Lexington Park community and caused damage to numerous homes, the NWS reported. Another EF2 began in Meriwether County and extended into Pike County.

The agency will survey damage in Butts, Henry, Newton, Jasper, Dooly, Wilcox, Pulaski and Dodge counties to determine if certain locations were hit by tornadoes. Survey teams will also be visiting Austell in Cobb County and parts of Warren County in the coming days to determine if tornadoes touched down.

[4:45 p.m.]: An EF3 tornado was confirmed to have touched down in Spalding County, NWS meteorologist Ryan Willis said, with the worst damage occurring along Kendall Drive on the west side of Griffin.

[4:25 p.m.]: Spalding County Manager Steve Ledbetter provided more information about the 911 system that overloaded during Thursday’s storms. He said a fiber cable that supported computer-aided dispatching at their 911 facility was damaged. Ledbetter noted that in their normal system, rollover calls go to other counties and come back to the dispatch center, where location and geographic information is captured.

But the damage forced them to go to a backup system in which the dispatcher had to physically input the data. He said there was a delay, because they had to capture certain information, like a name and cellphone number. Ledbetter said the main system should be back up and running Friday afternoon.

“But the 911 system is alive and well and working, and we are receiving calls and responding appropriately,” he said. “I am so proud of the work that our team did for us (Thursday) night.”

[2:45 p.m.]: At least 50 homes were damaged in Austell, of which 16 were completely destroyed or had significant damage, according to Cobb County Communications Director Ross Cavitt. He noted that families displaced from those destroyed homes either had insurance or found places to stay.

Cavitt said two people were injured during the storm in Cobb, including one person who was hit by debris and went to the emergency room. Another person suffered a cardiac incident which he said may have been caused by the storm.

“We’re just fortunate that there weren’t significant injuries given what happened,” he said.

The Cobb County Department of Transportation cleared 26 trees and 11 flooded roads Thursday night, Cavitt said. He noted the county had 29 additional locations of tree debris Friday morning that continue to be cleared up by road maintenance and parks and recreation crews.

In response to a dramatic wall collapse at a truck parts warehouse, he said a damage assessment team will send pictures to the National Weather Service to determine if it was destroyed by a tornado or straight-line winds.

[2:30 p.m.]: Georgia Power crews restored service to about 90,000 customers Thursday into Friday morning, officials said.

“Georgia Power teams continue working to restore power caused by a series of severe storms impacting the Southeast yesterday and with continuing winds overnight,” Georgia Power spokesman John Kraft said. “The company is working closely with other emergency response agencies to safely access severely impacted communities, and repair damage. Georgia Power will continue working until all customers who can receive power are reconnected.”

[2 p.m.]: Georgia Power said it continues to work with emergency management partners to clear damage and restore power after the storms. More than 3,700 customers are still without power across the state, according to the utilities company. Georgia EMCs are reporting about 16,500 people without power statewide, including more than 14,000 in the metro area.

“Georgia Power teams continue working to restore power caused by a series of severe storms impacting the Southeast yesterday and with continuing winds overnight. Crews restored power to more than 90,000 customers Thursday and into the early hours of Friday morning. The company is working closely with other emergency response agencies to safely access severely impacted communities, and repair damage. Georgia Power will continue working until all customers who can receive power are reconnected.

[1:30 p.m.]: Nearly all major roads are now open in Spalding County after crews with the Fayette County Road Department helped to clear debris from Thursday night into Friday morning, officials said.

“We responded at 6:30 p.m. with a crew of five workers, two pickup trucks, grapple skid steer loader, and Gradall. The crew worked all night, returning to Fayette County around 6:30 a.m. This morning, Spalding County is reporting most of their major roads are open,” Road Department Director Steve Hoffman said. “They did not ask for our help today because Lamar (County) and Upson County are sending crews their way.”

Meanwhile, all roads in Fayette County are now passable, as the department continues to clean debris from trees that blew over during the storms.

“Fayette County wants to be a good neighbor in good and bad times,” County Administrator Steve Rapson said. “Our Road Department is just one of the departments in the county that answered the call to help during this time. This level of partnership goes beyond county and city lines.”

[1:05 p.m.]: Kemp was seen observing the storm damage across Georgia from inside a helicopter Friday, alongside Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and James Stallings, the director of Georgia’s Emergency Management Agency. The governor said he decided to view the damage from the air so recovery efforts on the ground wouldn’t be disrupted.

“All available state resources are going to support those responding,” Kemp added.

So as not to disrupt ongoing rescue and recovery efforts on the ground, Lt. Governor @burtjonesforga, @GeorgiaEMAHS Director Stallings, and I viewed areas damaged by yesterday’s severe storms from the air today. All available state resources are going to support those responding. pic.twitter.com/NmiaM1tx3r
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) January 13, 2023

[UPDATE, 12:25 p.m.]: The Spalding County sheriff’s office said its 911 system was up and running Friday after it experienced an overload during Thursday’s storms. The county government told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution on Thursday that the system wasn’t working, though the sheriff’s office on Friday suggested that calls still got through.

Credit: WSBTV Videos

[ORIGINAL STORY]: Friday’s weather is expected to remain extremely consistent from dawn to dusk, with temperatures hovering in the low 40s from sunrise through most of the day, according to Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan. After sunset, the mercury will drop into the mid-30s overnight.

“A much quieter day for us today, mostly cloudy, windy and cold,” Monahan said. “In the mountains, we’re going to have some snow showers.”

Snow is unlikely to reach the areas most affected by Thursday’s severe thunderstorms, remaining isolated in far North Georgia around Blue Ridge, Jasper, Ellijay and Blairsville, according to Monahan. The metro Atlanta area is expected to see a few spots of pre-dawn rain, but any drizzle will quickly dissipate during the day.

ExploreMassive cleanup begins after strong storms crush buildings, close schools

Some gusty winds are still expected Friday, “as cold air tumbles down behind those storms,” Monahan said, but they won’t get near the sustained speeds seen Thursday.

The severe weather threat is over, but we will see flurries and snow showers today in the north Georgia mountains as cold air rushes into north Georgia.

Winer weather advisory for the higher elevations with an inch or two of snow possible by tomorrow morning. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/4czMpmSySA
— Brian Monahan, WSB (@BMonahanWSB) January 13, 2023

The weekend weather is expected to be much more hospitable, with plenty of sunshine and a warming trend from Saturday to Sunday. High temperatures will reach the upper-40s on Saturday and mid-50s on Sunday with almost perfectly clear skies expected.