A tree smashed Joshua Kunkle’s restored 1967 Ford Mustang as it sat in the driveway outside his family home off Smith Loop Road in Demorest. (photo courtesy Leah Kunkle)
Severe weather swept through Georgia Saturday, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.
Earlier in the day, three people were killed when an apparent tornado struck Pickens County, Alabama. That same storm system triggered tornado watches for more than a third of Georgia. Those watches expired by midnight.
Images of trees toppled onto houses, buildings with roofs blown off, lashing winds, and lightning filled social media accounts as storms rolled across the state.
The severe weather struck Habersham County around 6:15 p.m. High winds coupled with heavy rain caused trees to fall across the county. One smashed a Demorest man’s prized vehicle.
Joshua Kunkle’s classic 1967 Ford Mustang turned into a heap of twisted metal and glass when a tree fell on top of it outside his family’s home on Twisting Ridge Trail in the Soque River Subdivision in Demorest.
“We’re very blessed no one was hurt — just a broken heart for my son,” says Joshua’s mom Leah Kunkle. “He put a lot into restoring that car, so, he’s sick.”
For her part, Leah says she’s relieved no one was hurt.
Power outages and road closures
There were no reports of any injuries in Habersham County, but the storm did knock down plenty of trees that took down power lines with them.
Residents reported trees down in Clarkesville, Demorest, Mt. Airy, Alto, and Cornelia. The debris made some roads impassable, including sections of Rocky Branch Road in Clarkesville, Habersham Mill Road in Demorest, and Hardman Road north of Clarkesville, among others.
The storm knocked out electricity to over 1,000 Habersham EMC members in the local cooperative’s six-county service area. Most of those outages were in Habersham and White counties.
Crews from Walton EMC worked with HEMC crews through the night Saturday to restore power service.
The severe weather also knocked out power to over 112,000 Georgia Power customers statewide. Most of those outages were concentrated in western Georgia and the metro Atlanta area.
Article includes updated outage figures from Georgia Power
