A tornado watch was issued Thursday by the National Weather Service for the metro Atlanta area and most of north Georgia until 4 a.m. Counties include Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb and Forsyth. The original watch was set to expire at 11 p.m.
While more heavy rain was expected late Thursday into early Friday, the line of storms isn’t nearly as strong as it was earlier, Channel 2 Action News chief meteorologist Glenn Burns said.
A cold front moved in from the west, and the storms were accompanied by heavy rain, hail and damaging winds in some areas.
Gwinnett County crews responded to a fire at a two-story home in the 3000 block of Hampton Way in Duluth that was believed to have been sparked by lightning, Capt.Tommy Rutledge said. No injuries were immediately reported.
Lightning was also thought to be responsible for a house fire in the 3800 block of Sweat Creek Run in Kennesaw, officials said.
Heavy winds blew the roof off an East Second Avenue building in Rome around 7 p.m., Channel 2 reported.
As of 10 p.m., Georgia Power was reporting 7,500 customers without power statewide, including 2,600 in the northwest.
The storm already moved through Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi, bringing tornadoes and lots of damage.
It is being blamed for the death of at least one person in Mississippi.
If there’s a silver lining to the dark storm clouds on the horizon, it is that the rain should wash the near-record pollen out of the air, at least temporarily.
Thursday’s pollen count soared to 8,024 particles of pollen per cubic meter of air – Atlanta’s third-highest number ever, eclipsed only by the 8,163 recorded on March 19, 2012 and the record count of 9,367 on March 20, 2012.
Clearing skies are forecast for Friday, with morning lows in the mid-50s followed by afternoon highs in the low 70s.
The weekend should be sunny, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s.
—Bryan Cronan contributed to this article.
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