VALDOSTA — Pastor Wayne Hughes was inside his church with a church council of five other men Monday night when trouble struck.

‘I had gotten a couple of weather alerts on my phone,” he said, “Not five minutes after the second alert we heard something … for a moment, we thought a thunderstorm was right upon us.”

It turned out to be the sound of the church’s steeple being blown off.

“We went outside and saw the steeple in the parking lot,” Hughes said.

The damage to Abundant Life Church of God’s building was the only serious damage reported in Lowndes County from a string of storms that moved through the area Monday evening.

No one was hurt when the steeple went flying, Hughes said.

The storms that moved through South Georgia were not related to the pair of tropical storms menacing the Gulf of Mexico but were more routine Southern afternoon summer storms, according to the National Weather Service’s Tallahassee, Fla., office. 

No tornadoes were reported by the weather service Monday for all of South Georgia; the damage to the church was likely due to straight-line winds, the weather service said.

The building, located on Knight’s Academy Road, was built 11 years ago, and the steeple was original, the pastor said.

“We spent (Tuesday) going over the insurance stuff,” Hughes said. 

The church hasn’t yet started thinking about the cost of replacing the steeple, he said.

Hughes said there doesn’t appear to be any other major damage to the building, but they were sending a man up on the roof Wednesday to make sure.

in the rest of the county, there were no reports of serious problems, Lowndes County Manager Paige Dukes said.

“Nothing but downed trees and the like,” Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

In a Facebook statement, the Valdosta Fire Department said, “Last night, the Valdosta Fire Department responded to several trees down and wind damage from the storm. Thanks (to) our emergency responders, 911 dispatchers, public works & stormwater crews and linemen that worked hard through the night to restore power and remove hazards from the area.”

Abundant Life dates back to 1908, when it was formed on Lee Street, Hughes said. The church has a registered congregation of about 525, with an average Sunday attendance of about 300, he said.

“Thankfully, it wasn’t any worse than it was,” Hughes said.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.