VALDOSTA – The outer bands of Hurricane Sally swept across South Georgia Wednesday causing a possible tornado to land along the Brooks/Lowndes county line, according to weather officials Thursday.

The National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings for the southwest area west of Interstate 75 Wednesday, said Israel Gonzalez, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Tallahassee, Fla., office.

A tornado warning was issued for Lowndes, Brooks and Cook counties. 

“We saw multiple rotating cells embedded within the outer rain bands of Sally and few of them were showing some pretty good rotation signatures on radar that suggested that a tornado may have been trying to spin up,” he said.

He said at least one rotation signature formed a tornado debris signature on the radar that hinted a tornado had touched down and was throwing debris into the air causing the three counties to be placed under a warning.

A storm report puts a possible tornado along the county line about 3.5 miles northeast of Morven around 4:50 p.m., which correlates with when the weather service noticed the tornado debris signature on its radar.

“So, it appears to be a legitimate report but it’s not 100% official,” Gonzalez said. “We’re still going to be assessing those reports and some of the damage as more information comes in, but it’s likely that a tornado may have touched the ground in the area.” 

If there was a tornado along the Brook/Lowndes county line, Gonzalez said it was weak. A damage assessment must be completed to determine the tornado’s strength.

Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said there was no major damage from the storm, only a few reported downed trees. 

Tornado warnings were issued for Colquitt, Worth, Jefferson and portions of Thomas counties, Gonzalez said. 

He noted the possibility that a brief radar-indicated tornado spun upward near these counties. 

Tift, Turner, Irwin, Cook, Berrien and Ben Hill counties were placed under a flash flood warning Wednesday that lasted until 1:15 a.m. Thursday.

Although Gonzalez called the forecast for the remainder of the week complicated, he said light showers are forecast to come into southwest Georgia as the remnants of Sally linger.

“There could be some showers and some rainfall but nothing significant,” he said.

As of late Thursday morning, Sally had downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, according to an advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center.

Weather heading into the weekend and early next week is dependent on a “disturbance that is brewing in the southwest Gulf of Mexico,” Gonzalez said.