The National Weather Service has canceled a tornado watch for a number of Georgia counties several hours before it was set to expire.
DeKalb, Forsyth and Gwinnett counties were included in the watch issued at 2 p.m. by the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, with the watch scheduled to expire at 10 p.m. As of 5:30 p.m., those counties were no longer under the tornado watch.
Earlier Tuesday afternoon, Channel 2 Chief Meteorologist Glenn Burns says he expected the watch to be canceled as the bands of rain keep moving east, adding that those in the metro Atlanta area should soon see better weather conditions.
“This evening I expect mostly clear skies and cooler temps with lows in the low 50s. Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with highs in the upper 60s to the low 70s,” Burns said.
NWS: At least two metro area tornadoes
The National Weather Service says a second tornado was responsible for damage on the west side of East Point, Channel 2 Action News Reporter Mike Petchenik reports.
The EF-0 tornado was confirmed by NWS Atlanta meteorologists shortly after they confirmed that an EF-1 tornado struck Alpharetta Tuesday morning. Officials via the NWS Atlanta Twitter account (@NWSAtlanta) say they have so far confirmed at least these two tornadoes, though their survey team's work investigating storm-damaged area continues.
Petchenik, citing NWS Atlanta meteorologists, said the stronger tornado touched down near Rucker and Harris roads.
Alpharetta police spokesman George Gordon said trees came down in the Crabapple area of north Fulton County, and that a tree had fallen on a home on Peyton Farm Drive.
Rucker Road at Harris Road was closed most of the day due to many trees and power lines down. Channel 2 reported that the road was open as of about 5 p.m.
South of there, in Roswell, Elkins and Willeo were also blocked for a time by downed trees.
Power outages remain after storms
Georgia Power reported this afternoon that just over 3,000 residents across the state remain without power in the wake of today’s storms, with 1,500 of those outages located in metro Atlanta.
NWS investigating possible tornado touchdown
The National Weather Service is sending a survey team to north Fulton County to determine if numerous trees that came down during the predawn storms that swept through the Alpharetta area were felled by a tornado.
Weather Service meteorologist Keith Stellman did not know specifically which areas would be visited, but said the survey team would be meeting first with the county’s Emergency Management Agency director early Tuesday afternoon to find out the areas with the worst damage.
Meanwhile, the line of storms that prompted numerous tornado watches and warnings early Tuesday had moved east of metro Atlanta by daybreak.
A tornado warning was issued shortly after 7 a.m. for Oconee, Clarke, Jackson and Madison counties. The University of Georgia sent an alert advising students to “seek shelter indoors immediately.” The tornado warning expired at 7:45 a.m. with no reported tornado touchdown.
An earlier tornado warning was posted at 5:30 a.m. for eastern Cobb and Fulton counties after radar indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado over Smyrna. That storm later moved into north Fulton County.
A severe thunderstorm warning posted for DeKalb, Gwinnett, southwest Forsyth and northeast Fulton counties expired at 6:15 a.m.
By 7:15 a.m., no injuries had been reported, and there were only scattered reports of trees down, including one that Atlanta police dispatchers said fell on an apartment building on Stone Road in southwest Atlanta.
Trees, wires, down on school buses
In DeKalb County, police dispatchers were reporting wires down on a school bus on Flintlock Drive near Stone Mountain.
In southwest Atlanta, police dispatchers reported that a tree had fallen onto a school bus at Brownlee Road and Boulder Park Drive.
The bus driver, Jumil Walters, said there were nine students from several different schools on the bus, ranging in age from 6 to 16.
“I tried to back up, but the tree fell on top of the bus,” Walters told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I had to sit still because if I didn’t, it would pull the mirrors off the front of the bus.”
She said Atlanta firefighters responded and cut the tree off the bus, which sustained only minor damage.
“I feel a relief now that the bus is safe and the tree is off and my students are off,” said Walters, who is in her first year driving a bus.
No injuries were reported.
Falling trees cut power
Georgia Power reported nearly about 15,000 customers statewide without electricity just after 9 a.m., down from about 29,000 at storm’s peak. Several schools were affected by power outages Tuesday morning, including Creekview High School, Creekland Middle School and Free Home Elementary School in Cherokee County and Humphries Elementary School and the KIPP Vision Academy in Atlanta.
Heavy rain prompts flood warning and disrupts morning commute
The heavy rain prompted a flash flood warning for the northwest corner of the state and a flash flood watch for areas of the state from Bartow and Cherokee counties northward and had an impact on the morning commute.
On the west side Perimeter, two tractor-trailer wrecks were affecting traffic in both directions before daybreak, according to the WSB Traffic Center. The northbound wreck blocked several lanes of I-285 near Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, while the southbound crash blocked lanes near Cascade Road.
Those wrecks, as well as one that blocked several lanes of I-75 near Northside Drive, had been cleared by 6 a.m.
Rainfall totals through 8 a.m. included .87 inch in Chamblee, 1.43 inches just west of downtown Atlanta, 1.26 inches in Dallas, 1.13 inches near Mableton and 1.46 inches in Peachtree City. Atlanta’s official rain gauge at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport had recorded 1.18 inches through 8 a.m.
One more round of rain, storms possible, then clearing skies
While the first round of storms has cleared metro Atlanta, there will be a "second opportunity" for strong storms, "as we move through the early afternoon hours," said Severe Weather Team 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz.
The storms should be diminishing by around 1 or 2 p.m., according to Nitz.
The forecast for the rest of the week calls for partly cloudy conditions Wednesday and sunny skies Thursday through Saturday.
Highs will be in the upper 60s Wednesday, low 70s Thursday and mid-70s Friday and Saturday, with lows in the low to mid-50s.
—Staff writer Jon Gargis and staff photographer John Spink contributed to this report.
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