ATLANTA (AP) — Parts of central Georgia are cleaning up following damage left by a storm system that moved through the South Thursday and Thursday night.
Some streets were flooded and roofs damaged at Robins Air Force Base and the surrounding community. A base spokesman said Friday that the airfield at Robins has been temporarily closed.
Vance “Geoff” Janes said in an email that the roofs of several buildings were damaged and power lines were downed by straight-line winds that reached 72 knots. More than an inch of rain fell on the base, flooding some streets and parking lots.
In surrounding Houston County, Emergency Management Director Jimmy Williams said there was “significant damage” in Warner Robins.
Williams said that trees fell into homes and power lines in an area that measures about 2½ miles by 6 miles. He said preliminary estimates indicate that about a dozen homes suffered significant damage, while others had minor damage.
He said about 35,000 homes and businesses were without power.
No injuries were reported.
EARLIER STORY
At mid-morning Friday, a utility company was working to restore power after the system produced wind gusts of more than 80 mph in Georgia and left thousands of customers without electricity.
Flint Energies reports that more than 6,000 of its customers were without power shortly before 9 a.m. Friday in and around Houston County, south of Macon. Earlier, the National Weather Service had issued tornado warnings in the area for parts of Houston, Peach, Crawford, Twiggs and Taylor counties.
The weather service reported that a weather station in the Warner Robins area recorded a peak wind gust of nearly 83 mph as the storms moved through the area.
Crawford County Emergency Management Agency Director Rick Sharon told The Telegraph newspaper that there were numerous trees down and some flooding in his county. Much of the state was under a tornado watch until 5:00 Friday morning.
In Gainesville, Hall County Emergency Management Agency Director David Kimbrell said Friday there were no reports of any weather-related incidents overnight. Rainfall at Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville was .41 of an inch and the top wind gust was 33 mph.
(AccessWDUN's Ken Stanford contributed to this story)
