Carroll County

2 tornado touchdowns confirmed in Georgia during Wednesday's storms

By Tom Regan, WSB-TV
By Tom Regan, WSB-TV

CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — Cleanup is underway from a tornado that snapped trees and damaged buildings in Haralson County.

The National Weather Service determined that a weak tornado touched down in Haralson County on Wednesday. Shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, they confirmed a second one had also touched down in Heard County on Wednesday.

Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Karen Minton had live coverage of the Tornado Warnings in Carroll, Heard and Paulding counties on Wednesday morning.

Damage was reported in parts of Bremen in Haralson County.

Channel 2's Tom Regan was with the National Weather Service as they surveyed the damage Thursday.

“It wasn't on the ground consistently all the way,” said meteorologist Keith Stellman with the Weather Service.

The NWS said the small tornado spawned from severe thunderstorms that hopscotched along a half-mile path snapping trees and damaging buildings.

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“Based on what we have seen so far, it’s going into Bremen, we got to follow it into Bremen and find the end point," Stellman said. 

Another tornado investigator told Regan the tree damage pattern left behind from the storms was unmistakable

“If we are seeing some twisting of these trees, that's a really good indicator that we had some good rotation in the wind field. If we see trees blown inward, that means they're blown toward the center of the tornado," NWS meteorologist Kyle Thiem told Regan.

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By examining type and the size of the trees snapped, and other damage, the tornado detectives can give a pretty good estimate on the strength of the twister.

"We are on the high end of an EF-0, which is in that 80 mph range, to a low Ef-1, which is around 85, so we're kind of zeroing in on that number," Stellman told Regan.

Morgan Bulter told Regan the tornado blew right past the medical office and spa where she works. It upended a detached garage across the street.

“We knew at that point it couldn't have been some wind, it had to be a tornado, right?" Butler said. 

Butler told Regan she was worried her building was next.

“We looked out the window and saw these like spiral winds, and we just knew we had to get out of the path. We got our patients into the hallway and out of harm’s way, waiting for it to be over," Butler said. 

Cox Media Group

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