Another tornado has been confirmed during Sunday’s and Monday’s deadly storms that rolled across Georgia, bringing the total to five.
The slow-moving system started its march across the state Sunday and continued through much of the next day, leaving two dead on a Muscogee County golf course. They were identified as Matthew Collins Sr., 58, and his son, Matthew Collins Jr., 29, a former Columbus police officer.
After spawning two twisters in Muscogee and Bibb counties Sunday, the storms produced three more across several south metro Atlanta counties Monday. For Coweta, Fayette and Henry counties, it was the second in a week.
According to the National Weather Service, Monday’s first tornado touched down at 7:22 a.m. in far southeast Coweta, just west of Gray Girls Road. It continued northeast for 14 miles into Spalding, quickly passing through the southern tip of Fayette and back into Spalding.
No injuries were reported, but it snapped and uprooted trees, even tossing some onto homes. For most of its path, the twister maintained EF-0 intensity, but it reached EF-1 winds of 90 mph before weakening as another tornado formed about 1½ miles south, also in Spalding.
That twister, an EF-0, touched down at 7:38 a.m. along Patterson Road, downing and snapping trees along its 4¼-mile path. No injuries were reported.
About 10 minutes later, at 7:48 a.m., another EF-0 touched down in the southern part of Henry County just west of Lester Mill Road. Its 75-mph winds snapped some trees on both sides of the road before continuing east across I-75 to the south of the Bethlehem Road overpass, breaking even more trees along the interstate.
Georgia Department of Transportation cameras showed “construction barrels being tossed onto the interstate” at the time it passed, the NWS reported. The twister stayed on the ground for just over 1½ miles along a path that was 75 yards wide. No injuries were reported.
Sunday’s tornadoes broke out in the afternoon, with the first touching down at 3:56 p.m. in Muscogee, just a few miles northeast of downtown Columbus in the Beaver Run neighborhood, the NWS reports.
“The tornado did its work quickly,” meteorologists said, noting numerous snapped and uprooted trees, including some structural damage to homes. Maximum windspeeds were estimated at 90 mph with a 350-yard-wide path.
The twister continued its northeast track for about 2½ miles, eventually crossing the Bull Creek Golf Course, where it downed more trees across the 500-acre course.
One of those fell on the Collins, who were trying to take cover under the tree that killed them. The tornado itself is not blamed for their deaths, however. It was powerful winds of 75 mph that brought down the tree, NWS experts determined.
Collins Jr. worked for Columbus police from 2017 to 2019, according to Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council records.
Nearly two hours after that tornado, another formed in Bibb County along its border with Twiggs County. It is estimated to have touched down in the Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge at 5:45 p.m., the NWS said. The EF-1 emerged from the swamp on U.S. 23 along the county line and whirled further north into Twiggs.
Its 90-mph winds snapped trees several feet above ground and others were uprooted, surveyors noted. Its path was nearly 8 miles long and 450 yards wide across mostly unpopulated areas that included tree farms.
The twisters came one week after six tornadoes broke out across several southern metro Atlanta counties and in Middle Georgia. No injuries were reported with those tornadoes.
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