The National Weather Service confirmed that tornadoes touched down Friday in Newton and Carroll counties as heavy storms blew through metro Atlanta and North Georgia.
New Year’s Eve featured tornado sirens and storm damage in parts of the metro area and elsewhere in Georgia.
A worker at a Chick-fil-A in Newton County shared harrowing photos with Channel 2 Action News of an overturned car in the parking lot. The wreckage was caused, the worker said, by a storm he suspected was a tornado.
NWS later affirmed those suspicions by ruling that a tornado struck the area, the weather agency said on Twitter. Crews were expected to finish surveying the area Saturday to determine the strength of the storm.
A person driving by filmed the mess in the parking lot of the restaurant and a nearby CVS, where it appeared a sign was damaged.
NWS released a video showing a funnel that formed over an intersection in Covington just before dusk Friday.
In Carroll County, the Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado with maximum winds around 95 mph touched down in the Temple area Friday. The storm carved a 2.5-mile track between Long Branch and Cown Roads and was 150 to 200 yards at its peak, according to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office.
Twenty homes were impacted, including one that was destroyed by the twister. Three others had major storm damage, the sheriff’s office said. No injuries were reported, and roads closed by debris have since reopened.
The violent weather moved into metro Atlanta days after residents of Bainbridge in South Georgia reportedly witnessed tornado clouds moving through town, the city’s Public Safety department said. The storm uprooted a tree, caused roof and sign damage and destroyed a fence Wednesday.
The tornado sirens sounded about 6:20 p.m. Friday from the Marietta Square, but by 7 p.m. the storm had blown through and the only sounds were the Marietta First United Methodist Church bells tolling the hour — and New Year’s revelers celebrating the coming of 2022 with backyard fireworks.
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