Severe storms leave destructive path, widespread outages across North Georgia

ATLANTA — Severe storms that moved through North Georgia left a destructive path.

The storms caused the outside wall of a gym in Calhoun to collapse Thursday afternoon. The Calhoun Police Department said no one was injured but were asking people to avoid the area.

Trees have been uprooted across the area and the storms have also dumped hail in parts.

A spokesperson with Hall County Government says Hall County experienced widespread impacts from downed trees, approximately 50, and power lines along with associated power outages, approximately 16,000 at one point.

As of 6 a.m. Friday, Jackson EMC says they have more than 6,100 outages with the most in Hall County. Sawnee EMC reports 12,500 customers without power across Forsyth, Hall, Cherokee and Dawson counties.

Georgia Power reports tens of thousands of customers don’t have power as of 6 a.m. Friday. The counties impacted the most are Clarke County with 13,435 customers, Forsyth County with 6,953 customers and Cherokee County with 5,018 customers.

Georgia EMC reports 19,378 customers in its metro counties don’t have power with another 13,947 customers in the north Georgia region without power.

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