North Georgia starts to dry out after storm downs trees, floods roads
North Georgia will see a drier start to the weekend after the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur disrupted World Cup events, downed trees, cut power and left roads flooded Thursday.
Some rain was still evident early Friday in metro Atlanta, but the National Weather Service said the bulk of the storms from the tropical system has moved out of North Georgia. Juneteenth celebrations, which have been happening all month and will continue through the weekend, should see little to no impacts from weather.
Middle and South Georgia, though, will experience some showers through the morning hours with the potential for stronger storms throughout the day. The area is under a Level 1 of 5 threat for severe thunderstorms from Friday afternoon through the evening.
A flood watch is also no longer active for North Georgia but remains in effect until late Friday for parts of Middle and South Georgia.
Some scattered showers may pop up in metro Atlanta in the afternoon and early evening as moisture lingers. And because of the humid air, heat index values are expected to peak around 90 to 95 degrees in the afternoon. Saturday is expected to be partly cloudy with low rain chances, but showers and storms return Sunday.
Georgia residents were still dealing with impacts from the storm Friday.
In Putnam County, two people were killed and two injured when an uprooted oak tree struck the back seat of a pickup truck early Friday, according to Sheriff Howard Sills. Logan Deal, 24, and Jakob Tapley, 25, died in the incident, which happened after 6 a.m. on Pea Ridge Road, east of Eatonton. The sheriff’s office said rain from the night before could have been a contributing factor to the tree falling.
Georgia Power reported about 4,800 customers without power and the state’s electric membership cooperatives reported nearly 5,900 around 1 p.m.
As showers and gusty winds moved across North Georgia, several tornado warnings were issued Thursday. Parts of western Georgia — extending as far north as metro Atlanta, as far south as Warner Robins and over to Albany and Donalsonville — were under a tornado watch through the afternoon and evening.
A wind advisory that impacted North and Middle Georgia has also since expired.
Strong storms from the tropical system, which made landfall late Wednesday on the coast of Texas near the Louisiana border and was quickly downgraded, disrupted World Cup fans by forcing the early closure of the FIFA Fan Festival downtown.
At the FIFA Fan Festival, gates at Centennial Olympic Park closed by midafternoon. Atlanta also hosted its second World Cup match Thursday, with Czechia and South Africa playing to a 1-1 draw.
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, departure and ground delays increased for hours, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. MARTA experienced delays because of a downed tree and branches near at least two stations. And a tree fell on a house and utility lines in southeast Atlanta early into the storm, the fire department said.
The rain and severe weather came from the first named storm of the season — Tropical Storm Arthur. That western side of the Gulf was predicted to get the worst of the rainfall, but remnants of the tropical system tracking eastward brought heavy rain to Georgia. The system will continue to move east through Friday.
The Weather Service said that by Saturday, North and Middle Georgia could see up to 4 inches of rain, and certain areas could even exceed 5 inches.
Farther west, heavy rain and wind from the tropical system left behind damaged buildings, uprooted trees and cut power to neighborhoods Thursday as authorities issued flash flood and tornado warnings along the Gulf Coast, The Associated Press reported.
Last month, a burst of torrential rain flooded parts of Midtown and the Downtown Connector during the afternoon rush hour, and likely contributed to the deaths of hundreds of fish on the Chattahoochee River in the hours that followed.
This week, city officials said they had being proactive to avoid a similar outcome.
An Atlanta Department of Watershed Management spokesperson said the agency worked “to ensure stormwater catch basins and inlets are clear of debris, particularly in flood-prone areas.” The spokesperson confirmed they were paying extra attention to infrastructure near the stadium and the fan festival in Centennial Olympic Park.
Delta Air Lines is allowing travelers flying from Thursday through Saturday extra flexibility to change their travel plans.
— Staff writers Drew Kann and Alex Nettles contributed to this report.