A powerful storm system swept through north Georgia overnight, sending trees into roads, damaging homes and businesses, knocking out power to thousands and leaving south Fulton County a disaster zone.
More than 130 severe weather reports of large hail, damaging wind and possible tornadoes came in Monday, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta.
"The severe thunderstorm and tornado threat is over in north Georgia," WSB-TV meteorologist Brian Monahan said. "But the cleanup is about to get underway."
In Cobb County, a tree crashed into a home on Glenroy Place. Lightning hit a home in Gwinnett County. And in Clayton County, a fire damaged an eight-unit apartment in the 7200 block of Tara Boulevard.
Food, shelter and other essentials were provided for 17 people affected by the fire, American Red Cross of Georgia spokeswoman Sherry Nicholson said.
But the most severe damage was reported in south Fulton and Haralson counties.
Storms ravaged homes and cars in a subdivision off Campbellton Fairburn Road.
“We expect a busy day ahead as daylight approaches, increasing visibility in hard-hit areas,” Nicholson said. “Currently, a team is on the ground in Fairburn, where homes in the Jumpers Trail neighborhood suffered significant damage.”
>> For complete coverage of the storms' aftermath, head to AJC.com and WSBTV.com
The Haralson County School District canceled school and activities Tuesday "due to storm damage throughout our community that may make bus service impossible," the district said on Facebook.
Georgia Power reported 273 outages affecting 10,025 customers.
“The electric membership cooperatives were hit hard as severe weather, and possible tornadoes, pounded many parts of Georgia last night, interrupting power to 13,000 customers, primarily in the west part of the state,” Georgia EMC spokeswoman Terri Statham said.
Ontario Alvarez was at his mother’s home in the 7100 block of Jumpers Trail with his 13-year-old brother when the storm moved in late Monday.
To protect the family, he dragged a mattress in a bathroom, where everyone hid to avoid the storm's path.
“We’re from Florida, so we’re used to hurricanes,” Alvarez said. “But this was different. We didn’t see it coming. We didn’t know what to do.”
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