Power Outage in Gainesville, GA

Numerous reports were received from the Hall County Emergency Manager, the public and local news media of trees and power lines blown down as well as wind damage to the roofs of some homes and businesses across the county in a swath at least 15 miles wide from Oakwood to Clermont. Several homes and businesses, and at least one vehicle, also received damage from falling trees. No injuries were reported.

Numerous reports were received from the Hall County Emergency Manager, the public and local news media of trees and power lines blown down as well as wind damage to the roofs of some homes and businesses across the county in a swath at least 15 miles wide from Oakwood to Clermont. Several homes and businesses, and at least one vehicle, also received damage from falling trees. No injuries were reported.

The Hall County Emergency Manager reported several trees and power lines blown down from Casper Drive across Wiley Road to Berkshire Ridge Drive. A large portion of the tin roof was blown off of an open front barn and a few mobile homes had damage to skirting, siding and roofing.

The local broadcast media reported trees and power lines blown down across the roadway on Highway 129 around South Enota Drive.

The Hall County Fire Department reported trees and power lines blown down in the 5000 block of Highway 52.

News media reported hundreds of trees and power lines blown down across the county. At the peak of the storm, approximately 80 percent of the roads in the county were at least partially blocked by debris. More than 65 percent of the county was without power for varying periods of time. A peak wind gust of 45 MPH was recorded by the ASOS at the Hall County airport. No injuries were reported.

The Hall County 911 Center reported numerous trees blown down across the county from several hours of 30 to 35 MPH sustained winds with gusts estimated over 40 MPH. Several roads were blocked by downed trees, including Cornelia Highway and Chandler Road, and power outages were reported.

The Hall County Emergency Manager reported up to a half of an inch of ice accumulation on trees, power lines and other elevated surfaces due to freezing rain and drizzle. Numerous trees and power lines were downed with over 75 percent of the county without power at the peak of the storm. Many roads were closed due to downed trees blocking the roadway.

The Hall County 911 Center reported that nine trees and several powerlines were down across the county.

The Hall County 911 Center reported that 10 trees and power lines were blown down across the eastern portion of the county.

The Hall County Emergency Manager reported several trees down in Gainesville. A tree and power lines were down on a car, trapping the occupant, and another tree was downed on a pickup truck, also trapping the occupant. No injuries were reported. Trees and power lines were down along Blueberry Hills Drive, Athens Street, Stallworth Street, MLK Jr. Boulevard, and East Ridge Road.

Freezing rain began just after sunrise on the morning of the 25th, accumulating on elevated surfaces, bridges, and overpasses through the morning and afternoon hours. Widespread amounts of 0.10 to 0.25 inches of freezing rain were reported. The slick roads resulted in numerous automobile accidents and power outages across the area.

Broadcast Media relayed reports from Hall County Fire Services of numerous trees and power lines down on the north side of Gainesville, including on Riverside Drive, Blueberry Hills Drive, Enota Avenue, Enota Drive, Park Hill Drive, and Green Street Circle.

Broadcast Media relayed reports from Hall County Fire Services of numerous trees and power lines down on the north side of Gainesville, including on Riverside Drive, Blueberry Hills Drive, Enota Avenue, Enota Drive, Park Hill Drive, and Green Street Circle.

The Hall County 911 Center reported that a dozen trees were down across the county. A back wall of the Department of Family Services Building on McEver Road was damaged when a tree fell into the structure. Several power lines were also down across the county, with up to 4000 people left without power from the thunderstorm wind event.

The Hall County Sheriff's Office reported that one tree and one power line were down between White Sulfer Road and Georgia Highway 365, approximately two miles northeast of Gainesville.

The Hall County Emergency Management Director reported that many trees were down across the county, especially the south part of the county. Several homes suffered extensive damage from downed trees. Several boats were overturned on Lake Lanier at the Lan-Mar Marina. A man was injured on Joe Chandler Road when a tree fell on him causing cuts and bruises to his head. The Gainesville Times reported that nearly 300 trees had to be removed from roadways across the county. Nearly 9000 residents of the county were left without power during the event as well.

Snowfall varied from only a trace in the far northern part of the county to 5.0 inches in the southern part. A number of trees and power lines were down in the southern part of the county, leaving many residents without power in those sections.

The Hall County Emergency Management Director reported that a mobile home was destroyed by thunderstorm winds on Clarks Bridge Road about eight miles northeast of Gainesville. Another home nearby also had a tree fall on the roof causing damage to the structure. Several trees were down in the Wahoo Creek Bridge area on Mount Vernon Road, one which fell on and damaged an unoccupied vehicle. A few trees and power lines were also down in the Murrayville area in northwest Hall county.

The Hall County Fire and Rescue Department reported that up to 20 trees and several power lines were down in the Gainesville area, and up to three miles south of Gainesville. It was originally reported that a tornado had touched down on the south side of Gainesville, but an aerial survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast office in Peachtree City, Georgia in cooperation with the Georgia State Patrol concluded that the damage observed in Hall county was from straight-line winds and not that of a tornado. Several power lines were also down in the area, including several near the intersection of Georgia Highway 53 and McEver Road, about three miles west-southwest of Gainesville. The Gainesville Times reported that two brand new Hondas at Milton Martin Honda were destroyed when a tree was blown down onto them.

An employee of the Jackson Electric Membership Cooperative, which provides power to this local area, observed penny-sized hail across the eastern part of the county north of Candler.

An employee of the Jackson Electric Membership Cooperative, which provides power to this local area, observed penny-sized hail across the eastern part of the county north of Candler.

An employee of the Jackson Electric Membership Cooperative, which provides power to this local area, reported that six trees were down along Roy Parks Road east to northeast of Candler.

The Hall County 911 Center reported up to 2.0 inches of snow in the northern part of the county, with about 0.5 inch of sleet and less than 1/4 inch of glaze ice in the southern part of the county. Approximately 71 minor traffic accidents were caused by icy roads. Around 1200 people were left without power for around 30 minutes as a result of ice covered trees and power lines.

The Hall County 911 Center reported that a number of trees and power lines were down throughout the central and eastern part of the county, especially from Gainesville to Lula. The most significant damage occurred in the Lula area. Power lines were down in White Sulfer, Pavery, Branon, and Gainesville as well.

The Times of Gainesville reported that a tree was blown down during a thunderstorm causing a couple of power lines to come down. Approximately 165 residents were without power for a few hours as a result.

The Hall county 911 center reported that at least three, possibly four trees were down in the city. One of the trees was down on a power line.

The Hall county Emergency Management Director reported that a chicken house was blown down on Joe Chandeler Road about four miles east of Gainesville. The house and most of the chickens were destroyed. Trees were also blown down in scattered areas around the county. The Times newspaper of Gainesville reported that a very large oak tree was blown down behind Continental Tire on Atlanta Highway, which brought down four spans of electric transmission lines. There were a number of power outages reported across the county because of trees down on power lines.

The Times newspaper of Gainesville reported that several trees and power lines were knocked down around the county because of high winds. A large oak tree fell on a home in Gainesville demolishing a sunroom and damaging the back of the house. Downed power lines resulted in the closure of a portion of Georgia Highway 60 in north Hall county until the lines could be repaired. At least 600 customers in the county were without power during the evening.

The Hall county 911 center reported that several trees and power lines were blown down across the eastern portion of the county from Gainesville to Gillsville and Belmont. One 30 foot tree fell on a house in Gillsville on Georgia Highway 52, causing minor damage to the roof.

The Times newspaper in Gainesville reported that lightning struck a house on Cedar Creek Road east of Gainesville in eastern Hall county. The lightning ignited a fire in the kitchen which resulted in moderate to heavy damage to the interior of the home and heavy damage to the attic. A utility pole was also struck and set on fire by lightning on the same street. Numerous outages to telephone, cable, and power were reported in the area because of the intense cloud-to-ground lightning.

The Hall county 911 center reported trees and power lines down throughout the county.

The Hall county 911 center reported large trees and some power lines down on Point View Circle.

Multiple disturbances moving out of the Ohio River Valley into the area set off multiple lines of strong to severe storms within an unstable and moist airmass during the late evening of July 6th and afternoon of July 7th. These storms produced scattered reports of trees and powerlines down across portions of north and central Georgia.

On January 12th, a strong area of low pressure moved from the Ohio Valley to the Great Lakes, dragging a cold front through the Mississippi River Valley and toward the Southeast. A tight surface pressure gradient combined with strong winds aloft resulted in widespread tree damage across mainly north Georgia during the evening. At the height of the event, Georgia Power reported over 10,000 customers without power.||Wind gusts of up to 45 MPH were recorded at several ASOS stations around north Georgia, including Rome (KRMG), Atlanta (KATL), and Gainesville (KGVL). Hundreds of trees and powerlines were downed, several falling on homes, across 12 counties: Catoosa, Cherokee, Dawson, Fannin, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Gwinnett, Hall, Lumpkin, Towns, and White.

A low pressure system moving out of the Gulf of Mexico and a strong upper-level trough pushed an area of rain across Georgia late on the 14th and early on the 15th. Meanwhile, a wedge of cold, dry air had slid down the east side of the Appalachians into north central and northeast Georgia. As the rain overspread the wedge of cold air, temperatures dropped to near or just below the freezing mark. Rainfall amounts across north and northeast Georgia averaged in the 0.50 to 0.80 inch range, resulting in substantial and damaging accumulations of ice. Ice accumulations on trees, power lines, and other elevated objects were mostly in the 0.25 to 0.33 inch range in an area bounded by Helen, Dahlonega, Ellijay, northeast Atlanta, Covington, and Athens. However, ice accumulations up to 0.50 inch were reported across Gwinnett, Hall, and White counties resulting in a number of downed trees and power lines. Only minor ice accumulations were reported immediately west and south of this area in the western and southern suburbs of Atlanta. Warm ground temperatures prevented significant ice accumulations on roads, although some minor ice accumulation was reported on the roads across Banks, Gwinnett, Hall, and White counties. Approximately 220,000 residents, mostly in northeast Georgia, were left without power during the morning hours. The power outages also left traffic signals out of service in many of these areas, resulting in a number of traffic backups. Nearly 100,000 were still without power in the late afternoon. Several roads were also blocked from downed trees, especially across Hall, White, and Gwinnett counties. The information below provides the specific ice accumulation and reports by county:Banks: 1/4-1/2 inch - roads icy with widespread power outages.Barrow: 1/4 inch - numerous power outages and trees down.Clarke: 1/4 inch - ice on bridges with a few trees and power lines down.Cherokee: 1/4-1/2 inch - numerous power outages and trees down with ~4500 residents without power.Dawson: 1/4 inch - numerous trees and power lines down.DeKalb: < 1/4 inch - several power outages.Forsyth: 1/4 inch - numerous power outages and trees down.Fulton: < 1/4 inch - lots of trees and power outages down northeast side of county.Gilmer: 1/4 inch - numerous trees and power lines downGwinnett: 1/4-1/2 inch - numerous power outages and trees down with ~76,000 residents without power.Hall: 1/2 inch - bridges icy with approximately 400 trees down, 100 of them on Georgia Highway 400. Eight to ten roads closed. Widespread power outages.Henry: 1/8 inch.Jackson: 1/4 inch - numerous power outages and trees down with ice on bridges.Lumpkin: 1/4 inch - numerous trees and power lines down. Schools closed for two days.Madison: 1/4 inch - several trees and power lines down.Newton: 1/4 inch - A number of trees and power lines down throughout the county. At least 600 residents left without power overnight.Oconee: < 1/4 inch.Oglethorpe: Several trees and large tree limbs were down. Some roads were blocked.Pickens: < 1/4 inch - several trees and power lines down.Rockdale: 1/4 inch - a few trees down.Towns: trace of ice - no power outages and no road problems.Walton: < 1/4 inch - icy bridges with no trees down.White: 1/2 inch - ice on bridges and patchy on roads. Numerous trees and power lines down. At least 2,500 residents in the county left without power.

Sustained winds at estimated speeds of 40 to 45 mph with gusts of 50 to 55 mph developed along the back edge of a northeastward moving area of rain as it intersected a cold air wedge or back door cold front that was in place across northeast Georgia. The high winds combined with the wet saturated soil from recent and ongoing rains, blew down hundreds of trees and power lines in several northeast Georgia counties. Some of the trees fell on homes and vehicles causing additional damage. Several roads were blocked as well. Banks, Barrow, and Hall counties seemed to receive the worst of the wind. In Banks county, 53 roads were blocked by downed trees and power or phone lines, of which 10 were state roads and 43 were county roads. At least seven homes in the county sustained damage from trees that fell on them. In addition, four vehicles were totaled by fallen trees, two of which involved entrapments, and a barn was completely blown away at one residence. In Hall county, in addition to numerous downed trees and power lines, the roof was blown off the McEver Elementary School gymnasium, which simultaneously damaged two heating/air conditioning units and a gas line. Up to 22,700 homes and businesses in northeast Georgia were left without power during the event, well into the afternoon in some cases.

Clockwise flow around a large Canadian high pressure system located over the mid-Atlantic states spread a wedge of cold air into northeast Georgia. Meanwhile, a series of disturbances in a moist southwest flow aloft brought periods of light rain to the region. As the rain fell into the colder, drier surface air present over northeast Georgia, evaporative cooling lowered temperatures to the freezing mark causing the rain to freeze on trees, power lines, and other exposed objects, as well as some bridges and overpasses. Ice accumulations were minor and inconveniences were minimal. Glaze accumulations only amounted to a trace at most locations. The freezing precipitation was generally confined to an area bounded by Gainesville, Winder, Athens, Homer, and back to Gainesville. Barrow county probably bore the brunt of the freezing rain episode, where local police reported less than 1/4 inch glaze of ice on trees and other exposed objects resulting in some small tree limbs breaking. Roads were not impacted as temperatures failed to fall any lower than 31 to 32 degrees F. Significant warm advection overtook the region shortly after sunset changing all of the precipitation to rain.