A thunderstorm packing strong winds and golf-ball sized hail swept through the Chattahoochee Valley this afternoon, toppling trees in north Columbus and leaving more than 2,000 residences without power.
The heaviest damage occurred in north Columbus, where 10 utility poles were snapped and at least 2,500 customers lost electricity, said Priscilla Veal of Diverse Power.
Many of those homes are expected to be without power until sometime Sunday, and five crews planned for a long night of work.
“They’ll work all night,” Veal said, adding the main line had been broken. “We’re assuming it was straight line winds, but people are saying it was a tornado.”
Laurie Wolfe, a resident of Moore Road, which was blocked for hours as crews cleared fallen trees and power lines, likened the damage in her neighborhood to “a war zone.”
“My sister’s pool and pool house look like a toothpick,” she said.
Wolfe said she saw a tornado whip through her neighborhood about 2 p.m., but a National Weather Service forecaster said no tornado touchdown had been confirmed. The forecaster, Alex Gibbs, said the region received hail and wind gusts of up to 60 mph.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch until 8 p.m. for much of west central Georgia, including Muscogee County.
Power had been knocked out for about 200 Georgia Power customers in Columbus as of about 2:40 p.m., said Robert Watkins, a company spokesman. Watkins said those outages should be restored by 8 p.m.
Power lines were down along Moore Road, off Whitesville Road, but no property damage had been reported as of about 3:15 p.m., said Lt. James Walton of the Columbus Police Department. He said the downed lines were affecting traffic as crews arrived to clear them.
The weather service at 2:30 p.m. had detected a strong thunderstorm over Box Springs, Ga., moving east at 45 mph. Penny-sized hail and gusts of up to 50 mph were expected as the storm makes its way through Talbot County.
The tornado watch includes Russell, Lee, Harris, Marion, Taylor, Chattahoochee and Stewart counties. Forty-five Georgia counties are included in the watch. Officials in Harris County reported no significant damage, according to an emergency dispatcher there.
Hallie Bradley, an Alabama Power spokeswoman, said about 40 outages remained in Auburn, Ala., as of about 2:30 p.m. CST. The outages were caused by some trees falling on lines, she said.
In Columbus, Buddy Newman and his family pulled over to the side of Whitesville Road at Hubbard Road to assess the damage. Winds had snapped a utility pole in two, completely blocking traffic.
“I’m floored over this,” Newman said. “I’ve never seen this kind of damage before in my life.”
The severe weather was attributed to a strong cold front moving slowly through north and central Georgia. The primary hazards will be heavy rain and, possibly, isolated tornadoes.
Bob Jeswald, chief meteorologist at WRBL, said the front will stall in the region on Sunday, leading to showers and cloudy skies. He forecasts another storm to bring more showers late Sunday through Monday.
