VALDOSTA —
Trees and power lines were down all over the city and some buildings were damaged Thursday afternoon as an intense, sudden storm swept through south Georgia.
The storm, which hit around 3 p.m., was a “leftover” from a frontal boundary of a cold front that moved through, said Katie Moore, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Tallahassee, Fla., office.
“Quite a few damage reports are coming in,” she said.
While there was stormy weather as far south as Perry, Fla., Lowndes County seemed to get the worst of it, she said.
As of 4 p.m., Valdosta had been soaked with 3.4 inches of rain Thursday, with 2.5 inches falling within an hour, Moore said.
The wind and rain were blowing so hard at one point as to reduce visibility to zero on numerous roads in the county.
At least two homes on Habersham Drive near Valdosta High School had trees through them, causing extensive damage.
Sara Howard, who lives at one of the damaged homes on Habersham, said her son was the only one of the house’s three occupants at home when the storm sent a tree into their house. No one was injured, she said.
“The damage is very bad,” she said. The tree damaged the garage and crushed a back porch area.
Her neighbor, William Sewell, also had to contend with a tree through his house.
“There are 20-30 holes in the roof,” he said.
When the storm hit, “the lights went on and off, then it got real quiet,” he said. “Then it sounded like the house was being bombarded by bullets and hail, then it was like the house exploded.” Sewell said he will be staying with a relative for the time being.
John Young, who lives on nearby Clayton Drive, reported that he was watching television when “a gigantic gust” came along and brought down his amateur radio antenna tower.
The 40-foot-tall tower came down in his driveway but didn’t hurt anyone, he said.
A tree also reportedly fell on the Valdosta bureau of Albany television station WALB on North Patterson Street.
There was no sign that a tornado was involved, Moore said.
For more on this story and other local news, subscribe to The Valdosta Daily Times e-Edition, or our print edition.
