Widespread damage but no injuries reported
People in Clarkesville and the Fairview Community are now digging their way out from under the damage left by Monday’s storm. A microburst packing 60-70 mph winds cut a swath of destruction from Highway 17 to New Liberty Road. Eyewitnesses called it a tornado but meteorologists say it was a microburst – a sudden, powerful, localized air current – whipped up by a severe thunderstorm and strong, summer cold front.
The storm knocked out power to hundreds of customers in Northeast Georgia. Habersham EMC Director of Communications Nicole Dover says, at it’s peak, 2400 HEMC customers in six counties were without electricity. Hundreds more Georgia Power customers were also left in the dark.
By mid-morning Tuesday, power had been restored to all but five homes according to Lynn Smith of Habersham Emergency Management Agency. “The best we can determine, is that it was either a microburst or very strong, straight-on wind. No actual tornado was reported,” she confirmed.
While utility crews worked into the night to restore power, HEMC was left to deal with damage of its own. Dover says, “The roof of the warehouse and truck shed at the HEMC headquarters in Clarkesville did sustain wind damage. Some small trees on the campus were also damaged.”
Habersham County Animal Control received several calls about missing animals after the storm.
The storm downed half a dozen large trees in Pitts Park, leaving tree trunks, limbs, trash cans and debris blocking roads into the Park. A large tree came close to crushing the Pitts Park sign. Willie Wheeler, of Demorest, was checking out the damage in the Park Tuesday morning when he related what he observed at his home as the storm passed over. “I went out and looked outside about 5:30, and it was rotating, might not been a tornado, but there were extremely high winds circling. It knocked down a large tree just beyond my house,” Wheeler explained.
Jeremy Garmon, Clarkesville’s Public Service Superintendent, said his crews have been busy removing a large number of trees from roadways since yesterday afternoon, following the storm. “We haven’t stopped. I haven’t heard of any injuries. It’ll be awhile before we can take care of the downed trees at Pitts Park, though.”
The Habersham 911 center confirmed that no calls concerning injuries were made, nor requests for EMT’s received. However, several homes were damaged. Phyllis Head, who owns a home at the corner of Grant and Brightwell Street, had a large tree pushed over against her home causing damage to the roof, and possibly the brick siding. McAllister Tree Service was on-hand with a massive crane sawing and lifting the fallen tree off Head’s home. Don McAllister, who was helping with removal of the tree said the owner was lucky. “We’ve been busy all morning. Most trees were in the roadways, but a few landed on homes. It could have been much worse,” McAllister pointed out.
The incident happened too quickly to provide much warning, but the public should know that the National Weather Service has forecast for possible storms for a brief period in Habersham County late this afternoon.
An official damage estimate has not yet been released.
Storm Aftermath
Clarkesville, GA
August 11, 2015
