Power Outage in Midland, GA

The Muscogee County 911 Center reported that several large trees and power lines were down or uprooted across Columbus and the suburbs on the north side of Columbus.

The Muscogee County 911 Center and the local news media reported that several trees and power lines were down around the county and especially within the city of Columbus. Trees and power lines were down on Ginny Avenue, Matthews Street, and were blocking Whittlesey Boulevard.

The Muscogee County 911 Center reported that at least five trees and two power lines were down across mainly the northern and eastern end of the county. One 45-50 foot 16-inch diameter tree was down across a sport utility vehicle at a private residence in the north part of Columbus. Several shingles were blown off a home in Green Island Hills near the Alabama border.

The Muscogee County 911 Center reported that at least 10 trees were down in the Midland area. Some of the trees fell on power lines.

The public reported that several trees and power lines were down around Midland. Some were down across roads. The Columbus Ledger reported that downed power lines resulted in approximately 14,000 people being left without power for several hours following the storm.

A survey conducted by the National Weather Service in Peachtree City and the National Weather Service in Calera, Alabama, concluded that an EF2 tornado, that originated in Russell county, Alabama, tracked across northwest and north central Muscogee county. The tornado first touched down in extreme northeast Russell county, Alabama about three miles from the Georgia border, then crossed into extreme southeast Lee county, Alabama, and then entered Georgia as it moved across the north end of Lake Oliver, about 1.5 miles west-southwest of Green Island Hills. The tornado continued to travel east-northeast across north Muscogee county, including the north suburbs of Columbus (Green Island Hills, Brookstone, Autumn Ridge, Hamilton Station, and Old Moon Road), before finally lifting three miles west of Midland in north central Muscogee county. The overall tornado path length was approximately 12 miles, with about nine miles of the tornado path within Georgia. The maximum path width was 300 yards. The heaviest damage occurred in the 6200 block of Brookstone Boulevard just north of U.S. Highway 80 in the northwest part of Columbus. Several homes in this area suffered heavy damage and at least one injury was confirmed. In addition, several commercial buildings on Veterans Parkway sustained substantial structural damage. Windows were blown out, large air conditioning units were tossed about, large metal business signs were blown down, and power poles were twisted and blown down. The Hawthorn Suites on North Lake Parkway was destroyed from roof and water damage. Nearby, the Ramada Inn under construction also suffered considerable damage while a nearby Holiday Inn Express sustained minor damage. In addition, several churches, including Wynnbrook Baptist, Saint Mark's United Methodist, and Old Moon Road Churches were heavily damaged. Hundreds of trees were down in the area, a number of which fell on parked cars. Many power lines were down and thousands were left without power, some for over a day.