A Clayton County man was killed Monday morning when he was crushed by a falling tree while walking to his vehicle during a violent storm, police said.
Harvey Hillman Sr., 65, was on his way to work about 6 a.m. as a line of powerful storms, including a brief tornado, rolled through metro Atlanta, according to a news release from Clayton County police. A large limb fell on his truck outside a home on Bay Court in the Riverdale area and hit him in the head, authorities said.
“It crushed him,” an emotional Mavis Freeman, Hillman’s stepdaughter, told Channel 2 Action News.
Police said family members heard the crash and found Hillman unresponsive on the ground. They carried him out of the storm and attempted life-saving measures, but could not revive him, authorities said.
Even though his family said it was raining hard as he headed out for work, Hillman was determined to make it.
“Not one day did he miss,” Freeman said, “in 30 years.”
The fast-moving storms swept through North Georgia before sunrise and brought gusty winds and heavy rain. Sustained winds of 57 mph were recorded in the Riverdale area, according to Channel 2 chief meteorologist Glenn Burns.
“It didn’t start out strong, but it really intensified once it moved down to the heart of the metro area,” he said of the storm system.
An EF-1 tornado was confirmed by the National Weather Service. It was on the ground just after 6 a.m. in the Riverdale area for about 1 minute with a three-fourths mile track, with peak estimated winds of 90 mph. The tornado touched down near Bethsaida Road and continued southeast, crossing West Fayetteville Road.
Channel 2 also found four homes with damage from fallen trees on Bethaven Road, including one house with seven trees on top of it and another next door damaged by five trees.
Damage was reported across metro Atlanta.
A tree landed on a house in East Point, destroying a deck and fence. It also left holes in the roof and damage to the kitchen, Channel 2 reported. Another tree fell on a home in the Camp Creek area, also bringing down power lines.
Another downed tree was reported in the road at Westminster Drive and The Prado in Atlanta. Crews worked early Monday morning to clear it and several live wires.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
In Cobb County, a tree took down a power line on Cheatham Hill Road north of Powder Springs. Crews also worked to clean up debris found on Hicks Road, and Smyrna police confirmed that power was knocked out in parts of the city.
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