Thursday severe weather leaves 1000s in Athens area without power, storm damage reported
A severe thunderstorm rolled through the Athens and Oconee area on Thursday evening, taking down trees and leaving thousands without power.
Between 6:30 and 7 p.m., a strong system moved into the area, with reported high winds and heavy rain taking down trees and branches. The National Weather Service sent an alert just after 6 p.m. that warned penny-sized hail and winds up to 70 mph were possible. Wind speed of 69 mph was recorded at the Ben Epps Airport at 6:54 p.m.
According to the Georgia Power outage map, while many areas has power restored overnight, thousands of residents were still without power as of 6:30 a.m. Friday. A majority outages were in the east Athens area.
The Athens-Clarke County Fire and Emergency Services Facebook account posted just after 7 p.m. saying: "THERE ARE MULTIPLE TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY. MULTIPLE TRAFFIC LIGHTS OUT. AVOID TRAVEL AT THIS TIME."
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Social media users reported they heard weather sirens and some posted photos of heavy tree damage on the loop.
WSB-TV reported damage in other areas of north Georgia, including the collapse of an exterior wall of a building in Calhoun.
Was there a tornado in Athens?
Several social media users have speculated about whether there was a tornado in Athens on Thursday, however there has been no confirmation from the National Weather Service. Typically the NWS will evaluate storm damage in the hours or days following the weather event and will make a determination once as assessment is complete.
What's in the forecast for Athens?
Forecasters, as of Friday morning, say Athens residents can expect mostly sunny skies with a high a temperature reaching 93 degrees, though it'll feel like 103 when the heat index is factored in. However, there's a 30% chance the skies will darken again in the late afternoon and evening with predicted rain and possibly thunderstorms.
The potential for thunderstorms remains through the weekend and into early next week, noted the weather service.
This is a breaking news story that will be updated as more information is available. If you have photos of storm damage that you are willing to let the Athens Banner-Herald use in this news coverage, please email them to cstrohpage@gannett.com and include your name and location.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Severe weather, high winds in Athens leaves 1000s without power
