Storm Wreaks Havoc Here, Elsewhere

Storms raced through Georgia Monday night, hitting Jasper County in the wee hours of Tuesday morning felling trees and taking roofs off a number of structures.

There were no reports of injuries and no reports of any occupied homes being seriously damaged. A tree fell through the roof of a home in Turtle Cove (middle, left), and numerous residents reported downed limbs and trees.

Bethel Baptist Church on Bethel Church Road lost much of its roof (top photo), and two barns near Bethel Church Road lost the tin from their roofs. Other structures also lost some or all of their roofs.

No roads were closed for significant lengths of time. Several state and county roads had to have trees cut from them before traffic could continue as usual. Turtle Cove was hit hard, and the reports of damage indicate the entire northern end of the county suffered damage.
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Volunteer firefighters from Station 1, Jackson Lake, were called out during the night to clear downed trees. Workers with the Jasper County Public Works Department worked late Tuesday clearing roads.
Power was knocked out to much of the county, although the city of Monticello was virtually unscathed.

The power outages were the biggest problem for many Jasperites, with some customers still being without power Wednesday. Georgia Power restored power to Shady Dale Tuesday evening, and estimated all customers would be restored by midnight Wednesday.

Central Georgia Electric Membership Corporation reported nearly 4,000 customers in 11 counties were still without power Wednesday morning, but the vast majority had been restored.

The power companies reported downed power poles to be the biggest problem. Because the damage was widespread, repairs were taking a while.