EF-1 tornado with winds 90+ mph touched down in Gilmer County this week, Severe Weather Team 2 says

GILMER COUNTY, Ga. — Severe Weather Team 2 has confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down in Gilmer County late Wednesday night.

Severe Weather Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Brad Nitz said max winds reached 90-100 mph.

The storms pushed trees and power lines into roads and on top of homes, trapping some families inside. The roof from the county’s forestry building on Old Highway 5 blew onto homes and an RV park next door. On top of that, flooding left 20 to 30 roads closed.

“There may be more than that because we continue to get reports,” said Gilmer County Emergency Management Director Keith Kucera. “Washed out roads, culverts washing out under roads. So, it’s just going to be a continued mess throughout the day as we try to mitigate many of these issues we have.”

Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco was in Ellijay on Friday as the National Weather Service was working to determine the strength of the storm.

Much of the area she was in still had buildings tipped over, trees uprooted, and powerlines snapped in half.

Stay with WSBTV.com and tune into Channel 2 Action News starting at 4 p.m. for the latest on this developing story.

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