ATLANTA FORECAST
Today: Rain and storms likely. High: 72
Tonight: Rain starts to clear. Low: 64
Tomorrow: Breezy and cooler. High: 57
» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.
A coastal Georgia-based firefighter and his wife died in a tornado early Wednesday in Ocoee, Tennessee.
Mark Faulk was an active member with the Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Department at the time of his death, according to the city's Facebook page.
The death brings the total toll to three in the Tennessee tornadoes.
Earlier, three radar-confirmed tornadoes moved through metro Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon -- one in Carroll/Haralson/Paulding counties, one in Cobb/Fulton counties and one in north Fulton/Forsyth counties -- according to Channel 2 Action News.
About 1 p.m., storms that had affected parts of Alabama blew through metro Atlanta, leading to fallen trees, downed power lines and torn roofs.
More than 50 counties, including Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett, were placed under tornado watches and warnings throughout the afternoon.
Metro Atlanta county officials reported little damage outside of downed trees and power lines, as Gwinnett and Fulton counties released some students early due to the storm.
Perhaps the most damage was seen in Cobb County at the intersection of Mableton Parkway and Discovery Boulevard. A tree fell on a QuikTrip and the roof flew off a nearby business, Cobb police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said.
Crews had been working since roughly 2 p.m. to clear debris along roadways and repair traffic lights. The county had one report of a weather-related accident, but no one was injured.
Atlanta fire spokesman Cortez Stafford said fallen trees and power lines were reported across the city's west side. A tree had fallen on a car injuring one man, Stafford said, but he believed the injuries were not significant.
Extensive storm damage was reported in Buckhead at the intersection of Northside Drive and Moores Mill Road. Trees were also down at the intersection of West Paces Ferry and Habersham roads.
DeKalb County officials had no official reports of major damage aside from power outages and downed trees, spokesman Elise Roberts said.
Cobb County School District spokeswoman Donna Lowry told The AJC that officials had not heard of any issues related to the severe weather.
The University of Georgia sent students an alert urging them to "seek shelter indoors immediately." Outside the immediate metro area, Paulding County reported a few downed trees while Cherokee County authorities told The AJC there was nothing to report.
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Tim Padgett, director of emergency management in Carroll County, said he could not confirm any major damage from the report of a tornado touching down in his county.
“I’m not sure it was a tornado. If it was, it never got on the ground," he said. "We feel very blessed.”
He said there were very few trees and limbs down in the Five Points area, which is about 15 miles northwest of Carrollton. There were no reports of injuries or property damage.
While no weather-related fatalities were reported in Georgia by 6:30 p.m., three were killed in a suspected tornado in a mobile home in Rosalie in northeast Alabama, Jackson County Chief Deputy Rocky Harmen told The Associated Press. Another person in the home was critically injured.
The Faulks' death raises the death toll to six in storms across the Southeast.
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Metro Atlanta had already received a record 2.32 inches of rainfall Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record, set in 1914, was 1.68 inches.
Temperatures were 63 degrees in Atlanta, 58 in Blairsville and 64 in Griffin just at 10 p.m. Wednesday.
