Local

Fallen trees damage homes, cause outages in metro area

ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News crews checked snow-covered parts of north Georgia along with fallen trees and damage caused by high winds on Tuesday.

News Chopper 2’s Jason Durden flew over Evans Mill Road between Flat Rock and Browns Mill roads in DeKalb County Tuesday afternoon, where a pine tree came down, pulling wires and a utility pole with it.

Authorities are unsure how long the cleanup will take but advised drivers to avoid the area.

Channel 2’s Sophia Choi was also in DeKalb County where heavy winds sent a tree crashing down.

In northwest Atlanta, a pine tree fell on top of four cars at Collier Green Apartments at Collier Road.

Two of the car owners were able to drive their vehicles home, but Robert Coletti wasn’t so fortunate.

"It’s just sort of a sickening feeling, a hit in my stomach,” he said. “I just bought this car less than a month ago. It’s every new car owner’s worse nightmare,” Coletti said.

High winds even knocked down a tree on apartment units but there was little damage.

Georgia Arborists Association President Peter Jenkins explained the cause of the high number of fallen trees following overnight storms.

“If you have weak roots, or if you have soil that’s really saturated, sort of makes (soil) slimy. Then you get a puff of wind that comes over it. Sort of shifts on this soggy ground and then pushes over,” Jenkins said.

Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt, meanwhile, has been tracking conditions in the north Georgia mountains.

Classes were canceled at the Amicalola Falls State Park due to expected snow.

Georgia Power reported 1,635 electricity outages in the state. Officials said 375 of those cases were in metro Atlanta and the others are in Milledgeville and east Georgia.

Severe Weather Team 2 chief meteorologist Glenn Burns said clouds are beginning to break and winds will diminish overnight.

It’s about 45 degrees in metro Atlanta and temperatures are in the 30s in the mountain counties. Temperatures are expected to climb into the mid-60s by the end of the week.