The fierce storms that left three people dead and nearly 200,000 utility customers without power moved out of metro Atlanta early Friday, but not before dumping enough rain to prompt flash flood warnings for Fulton and DeKalb counties.
The National Weather Service issued the flash flood warnings just before 5 a.m. for areas of central Fulton and DeKalb counties where Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton said as much as 3 inches of rain fell overnight, but lifted the warning about an hour later.
Numerous interstate ramps and surface streets remained flooded before daybreak Friday, however, including the ramp from I-85 southbound to Camp Creek Parkway, the ramp from I-85 northbound to Langford Parkway and I-20 westbound east of Candler Road.
Surface streets flooded out before 6 a.m. included 5th Street east of Peachtree Street in Midtown and North Druid Hills Road at I-85.
Other roads, including Deering Road near Northside Drive in northwest Atlanta, remained blocked by fallen trees.
Lisa Sonnier was driving to work about 4 a.m. Friday when her 2009 Mini Cooper got stranded in deep water on Spring Street in Midtown.
“I saw another car go through, and thought, ‘I can probably do it,’” Sonnier told the AJC.
“The check engine light came on, it started sputtering and I throw it in reverse, and then it just stalls out and that’s it,” she said.
But Sonnier said she had learned a lesson about driving into standing water.
“It’s just a constant reminder of your stupidity in your face when the water’s all around you,” she said. “Life lesson, don’t be stupid. Don’t do it again.”
At the peak of the outages Thursday night, about 200,000 metro Atlanta customers and 240,000 across the state were in the dark, Georgia Power spokesman Jeff Wilson told the AJC.
He said DeKalb and Clayton were the hardest-hit counties.
Those outages were down to 5,000 for metro Atlanta at 10:30 p.m. Friday. The utility brought in crews from other parts of Georgia and has 850 workers trying to restore power.
For the most part, electricity should be restored between midnight and 6 a.m. Saturday.
Georgia Power was bringing in crews from across the state to metro Atlanta to help restore power.
In addition to the Georgia Power customers, Georgia Electrical Membership Corporation officials reported that about 1,900 EMC customers, mostly in metro Atlanta and extreme west Georgia, were without power at daybreak Friday.
Two Decatur women were killed when a tree fell on their Mazda Miata, which was traveling south on Paces Ferry Road at Nancy Creek Road, according to Atlanta Fire Battalion Chief Bryant Tate. Their car swerved out of control and hit a mailbox, authorities said.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner's office identified the two women as 61-year-old Marion Irwin, the driver of the Miata, and her passenger, 64-year-old Geraldine Grady.
A 19-year old Cobb County man trying to remove a tree from his Mableton driveway died when another tree fell on him, Channel 2 Action News is reporting. Alonzo Daniel was taken to Wellstar Cobb Hospital, where he later died. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School last year and was working at Grady Memorial Hospital.
A fallen tree also is to blame for setting a UPS truck on fire on the 800 block of East Rock Springs Road, according to Atlanta Police Officer Kim Jones.
In Stone Mountain, a two huge oak trees crashed into the second-floor bedroom of Mavora Spruill and still the limbs reached to the ground. "The bedroom ceiling was completely caved in. Beams were on the floor. Windows were broken out," said Spruill, who lives the 500 block of Mountain Oaks Parkway. "I was in a state of shock. I couldn't believe it. ... I'm thankful I wasn’t on the second floor in that room."
The storms caused delays of up to three hours for departing flights at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Those delays for inbound and outbound flights were reduced to 15 minutes or less by 11 p.m.
Most of metro Atlanta was under a severe thunderstorm watch Thursday night. The severe weather threat was lifted by 10 p.m.
Gwinnett rescue workers battled a house fire in Lilburn after the attic was struck by lightning, Capt. Tommy Rutledge said. The house, in the 5300 block of Candleberry Drive, has extensive damage to the roof and backside. No injuries were reported.
Crews also responded to four incidents of trees falling on homes. Two incidents were in Snellville, one in Duluth and one in Norcross. No one was injured in any of the cases, Rutledge said.
Cobb County rescue crews have responded to more than 50 calls for fallen trees and are having to divert traffic off of major roads where there are downed power lines.
The storms prompted McEachern High School in Powder Springs to postpone graduation, which was scheduled for Thursday night in the school's stadium. The ceremonies were rescheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday.
In the mountains, a tornado warning was posted at 4:55 p.m. for Union County after National Weather Service radar indicated a severe storm capable of producing a tornado headed toward Blairsville and Vogel State Park.
Several counties northwest of Atlanta were also under severe storm warnings, as storms dumped hail ranging from golf ball-sized to the size of softballs, the Weather Service reported. Windshields were damaged by large hail in Fannin County, the Weather Service said.
A fallen tree limb temporarily halted a southbound MARTA train just before the Arts Center station. The tree limb has been removed, and the train is moving again, a MARTA spokesman said.
Sunny skies are forecast through Memorial Day weekend. Highs will be in the 80s through Monday, with overnight lows in the 60s.
Return for updates.
--Staff reporter Alexis Stevens and Rhonda Cook and photographers John Spink and Curtis Compton contributed to this article.
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