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Cold front brings rain and storms
The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch across most of the area late Saturday and several tornado warnings, including one which passed through Early County between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Doppler radar tracked the tornado as it raced across the county from the Cedar Springs area, northwest into the Urquhart area approximately five miles northwest of Blakely. Three homes were damaged by the twister in the areas it touched down. The aluminum roof was ripped off a sunroom at the home of Lois Baxley on Willie Roe Lane in the Freeman community. As it traveled north it demolished a pivot irrigation system just off the Howard Landing Road leveled trees in its path as it crossed Factory Creek and ripped into 23 old peanut trailers and killed four cows on the Brownlee farm. Mark Brownlee told the News Tuesday 10 of the trailers haven't been found, yet. When it reached Highway 39 just north of Simmons crossroad it ripped a porch off the back of John and Sian Lott's mobile home and demolished the old King store, one of the area's historical landmarks. Directly in the storm's path across the highway was Sian's brother's home. The storm ripped an aluminum roof from the back of Trey and Amy Smith's home and damaged the home's roof. The tornado's vortex disappeared from the doppler radar screen at that point and authorities found no damage north of that point. However, it left a trail of downed power lines and trees and left a number of residents without power. Highway 39 was closed for several hours until emergency workers could clear the debris from the King store and Lott home from the roadway with heavy equipment. "The National Weather Service got the warning out and they were right on," stated Early County Emergency Management director Ray Jarrett."We were fortunate we didn't have any injuries." The tornado warning triggered the activation of the outdoor emergency sirens put in place earlier this year in Blakely. "The sirens were activated as soon as the warning was received stated Blakely fire chief Kenneth Jones. "Residents called in for more information when they heard the sirens. The sirens are activated with five ten-second blasts when a tornado warning is issued. Storm damage was reported in several other counties across the state including Seminole, Decatur and Mitchell. The only storm-related fatality was reported in Turner County near Ashburn where a truck was blown off I-75 killing the driver. Ashburn, where as many as 155 structures were damaged including four mobile homes that were destroyed and 39 homes that sustained major damage, was hardest hit by the storms. Technology has enabled the National Weather Service to identify and track tornados and severe thunderstorms, and to accurately predict when and where they will strike. While media outlets - TV and radio stations - forward warnings to their audiences, the most effective way the general public can receive adequate storm warnings is via warning alerts from NOAA weather radio.
The inexpensive radios can save your life, sitting quietly in standby mode in your home until activated by a signal from NOAA with a warning that danger is on the way.
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