Severe weather brings power outages, wrecks and flooding to Athens area
A line of heavy rain crossed through the Athens area Tuesday morning downing trees and causing power outages for at least 500 electric customers in Clarke County alone.
Another rainstorm is expected to arrive on Friday. There is the potential for a severe thunderstorm, according to the National Weather Service. Tuesday's storm dumped almost 5 inches of rain on Athens.
On Tuesday during the hours of the rainfall, there were at least three wrecks in the county with injuries that were investigated by Athens-Clarke police. In Madison County, the Georgia State Patrol is investigating a fatal wreck along Booger Hill Road that occurred during the severe storm. Details were unavailable late Tuesday.
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One wreck in Athens occurred about 6:15 a.m. on Old Hull Road when a pickup careened into a ditch. The driver was taken to a hospital, police said.
Another wreck occurred shortly before 10 a.m. on the Athens Perimeter near Tallassee Road. The vehicle overturned and caught fire, police said, and one of the two occupants was transported to a hospital. A second wreck shortly before noon occurred again on the bypass near Tallassee Road. An ambulance was also dispatched to this wreck, which involved two vehicles.
Georgia Power Co. reported sporadic power outages in the Athens area. As a heavy band of rain crossed about 10 a.m., there were 290 customers out in the Bogart area, 81 in the Normaltown community along Prince Avenue and 110 in an area north of Athens along Georgia Highway 106.
Georgia Power also reported scattered outages in parts of Madison and Oglethorpe counties including Arnoldsville, Danielsville and Carlton. Most of the outages were restored by early afternoon, according to the power company's website.
Athens-Clarke police responded to several trees and limbs down on roadways including one leading into Columbia Brookside housing off Hawthorne Avenue. Another tree fell at the entrance to Falling Shoals subdivision off Whit Davis Road.
Athens-Clarke police spokesman Geoff Gilland said there were some flooded roadways including a flooding situation along Roberts Road near Lavender Road. The city reported Tuesday afternoon that no roads were closed as a result of flooding.
Police urge motorists not to attempt to drive through streets that are flooded.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Heavy rain down trees, knocks out power, floods streets in Athens area
