Severe storms in the Southeast US leave 1 dead and cause widespread power outages
CANTON, Ga. — A weather system that brought severe thunderstorms to the Southeast late into the night killed one person in Georgia, caused damage in a South Carolina city and temporarily left hundreds of thousands of electricity customers without power.
The 27-year-old man was found dead after a tree fell on his moving car Tuesday on a residential road in the suburban county northwest of Atlanta, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said. There were no passengers in the car.
Power outages in southeastern Tennessee and northern Georgia had dropped to about 30,000 by Wednesday morning, down from more than 200,000 in Georgia alone. Wednesday’s remaining outages were concentrated around the city of Ellijay in the northern Georgia mountains.
In Orangeburg, South Carolina, straight-line winds caused damage in the city center, blowing metal off roofs and wood off awnings of downtown businesses. City officials said they were working to clean up.
In the suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, four firefighters suffered burns after lightning sparked a house fire. Three of the four were released from the hospital, while one person remained in the hospital to be checked for smoke inhalation.
Officials in southeastern Tennessee and northern Georgia said roads were blocked Wednesday due to downed trees and power lines. Wind damage and downed trees were also reported Tuesday in Kentucky and North Carolina.
In Hall County, northeast of Atlanta, Emergency Management Agency Director Zack Brackett said new reports of blocked roads continued to come in after sunrise Wednesday. At least one home in Gainesville was damaged by falling trees.
“Crews continued through the night to clear most major roads and are now working on secondary roads,” Brackett said in a news release. “We continue to receive calls to remove trees.”
The severe weather came in the form of thunderstorms and torrential rain brought a new wave of severe flooding Tuesday that collapsed roads, crushed vehiclespushed homes off their foundations and led to dramatic boat rescues in northeastern Vermont, nearly three weeks after flooding from hurricane Beryl.
Repeated heavy rains and thunderstorms have also hit parts of the Southeast in the past week. The National Weather Service confirmed Tuesday that a weak tornado had struck Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on Monday, including parts of the Middle Tennessee State University campus.
The tornado, with an estimated 75 mph (120 km/h) wind, caused minor damage to the school’s football stadium and knocked down several trees, including cars. Surveillance footage showed the storm rolling over a semi-trailer parked near the stadium. No one was injured along the path of the storm, which stayed on the ground for 3.4 miles (5.4 kilometers).