The day after strong storms swept through metro Atlanta, another round of rain and thunderstorms moved into the city, making a mess of the Thursday morning commute.
At 10:30 a.m., radar showed a wide band of rain stretching from the northeast corner of the state through metro Atlanta and into southern Alabama.
"This very active pattern will continue the rest of the week," Channel 2 Action News meteorologist David Chandley said early Thursday.
Chandley put the chance of rain at 60 percent on Thursday, decreasing slightly to 40 percent on Friday. The chance of weekend rain is 30 percent on Saturday and 40 percent on Sunday, he said.
Dark skies, high winds and lightning swept the Atlanta area late Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening, causing fires, downing trees and leaving thousands without power but bringing relief from the recent hot and dry conditions.
The overnight storms sent an 85-year-old to the hospital for treatment of injuries sustained when a tree crashed onto her home on Jefferson Avenue in Atlanta. Her injuries were not believed to be serious.
Michael Gay lives on Perkerson Road in Atlanta, a short distance from the woman, whose name has not been released. He surveyed the damage to his neighbor’s home while on his morning jog Thursday, and talked about the overnight storm.
“We were sitting out and the rain and wind came,” Gay told the AJC. “Within a minute, it was up on you. I’ve got plenty of debris, and I thought I was going to have a tree fall.”
"Strong storms brought wind gusts to 60 mph. It also brought some beneficial widespread rain; 1-inch rainfall amounts were very common," said Channel 2 Action News Chief Meteorologist Glenn Burns.
"We have seen a major weather pattern change now, taking us from drought conditions to a good chance of afternoon storms for at least the next six to 10 days," Burns said.
Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 80s the rest of the week.
Wednesday's storms passed over the region at the height of the rush hour, snarling traffic across the area. By 7 p.m., weather radar showed the storms out of the metro area and heading east over Gainesville and Athens.
But the storms left havoc in their wake. "Summer storms often bring powerful straight line winds and hail, along with intense lightning," Burns said.
Multiple trees were reported down, including one on a Dahlia Drive home near Pine Lake in DeKalb County.
On Willow Wood Way in Lawrenceville, a large oak tree fell into the living room of the home and caused extensive damage. Four people at home at the time escaped unharmed, but the house was rendered uninhabitable, Gwinnett County firefighters said.
Separately, a large pine fell onto a pick-up truck in the driveway of a home on Five Oaks Circle in Lilburn, causing significant damage to the vehicle and also snapping a power pole and pulling down an electrical line. The occupants of the home were not hurt.
Downed trees and limbs have forced the re-routing of MARTA buses. MARTA also reported tree branches briefly blocked a Blue Line track at the East Lake station, forcing eastbound and westbound trains to briefly share a single track.
Georgia Power reported about 2,600 customers still without electricity at 6 a.m. Thursday, down from 48,000 at 5 p.m.
A fire, reportedly started by lightning, broke out at Concord Baptist Church on Floyd Road in Mableton. The AT&T store on the East-West Connector at Austell Road was also been hit, according to Cobb County dispatchers.
Gwinnett firefighters confirmed that lightning started a house fire on the 700 block of Continental Drive in Lawrenceville. A neighbor reported seeing lightning hit in the area and saw smoke and fire coming from the house moments later.
A female occupant in the house told firefighters that she heard a popping sound, went downstairs and discovered the fire. There was extensive damage to the home's interior.
Fire investigators said they believed the lightning hit nearby and then traveled along electrical wires into the home, where it started the blaze.
The home's occupant was able to get out safely with several of her dogs, but a dog and cat inside did not survive, said Capt. Tommy Rutledge of Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services.
Staff writers George Mathis and David Ibata and photographer John Spink contributed to this article.
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