It was intense overnight as strong storms passed through Georgia. Thunderstorms and tornado watches have now subsided, and damage assessments are underway.
Northwest Georgia’s Paulding County was among the hardest hit by severe weather, which rolled into the state as part of a massive storm system that left at least 32 people dead nationwide.
Paulding County Sheriff Ashley Henson urged residents to stay home early Sunday to avoid downed trees and power lines.
“We’ve had a busy night. Paulding County was impacted pretty severely by what we believe was at least one tornado. We’re not sure; we’re going to have to get confirmation from the National Weather Service, but we believe a fairly strong tornado came through Paulding County last night,” Henson said.
The National Weather Service briefly issued a tornado warning for Fannin County early Sunday but quickly canceled it.
Trees and power lines were also reported down in counties across the state, resulting in power outages. Just before sunrise, Georgia Power and Georgia EMC reported about 59,000 homes and businesses were without electricity statewide. The majority of outages were in metro Atlanta.
Georgia Power was working to restore service to approximately 4,000 customers in Northeast Georgia’s Hall and Jackson counties. About 10,000 EMC customers were affected in North Georgia, mainly in Union and Towns counties. About 600 outages were reported in Rabun County.
A wind advisory remains in effect for Habersham and Rabun counties and the mountains of North Carolina through 2 p.m. Sunday, March 16. Gusts could reach up to 60 mph in the higher elevations, with 50 mph gusts possible at lower elevations.
As of 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the line of severe storms was moving across south-central and southeast Georgia. A tornado watch remains in effect for Savannah and surrounding counties through 2 p.m. on March 16.
