STORM UPDATES: Trees come down, water mains break, power goes out across CSRA

AUGUSTA, Ga. – A sprawling winter storm hit the South with winds that blew roofs off homes and tossed furniture elsewhere before taking aim at the CSRA, leading News 12 to declare a First Alert Weather Day.

Major damage was reported in Bamberg.

Reports included multiple trees uprooted, several businesses reporting damages, one person entrapped at this time and several roads blocked.

A tweet from a South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper showed heavily damaged commercial buildings.

A tornado was reported over Bamberg at one point, during the storm, but it will take a survey by the National Weather Service to determine whether the damage was caused by a tornado.

A tornado warning was also issued around 2 p.m. for Screven County.

The storm seems to have peaked in Augusta, but a severe thunderstorm warning remains in effect until 3:45 p.m. for Bamberg and Orangeburg counties.

As winds started kicking up, there was a wave of power outages, leaving 8,492 customers without electricity in Columbia County as of 1:21 p.m. Within a few minutes, that number was cut to 5,737.

The first heavy line of the storm moved through Augusta around 1 p.m., then the next wave came through just before 2. From Augusta, the storm was moving eastward.

Gusts up to 60 mph and up to 2 inches of rain were expected.

In Richmond County, two closed doors at an industrial storage building were ripped off their hinges by the wind near the intersection of Jimmy Dyess Parkway and Wrightsboro Road.

Elsewhere in Augusta, water mains broke at Wallace Street and Laney Walker Boulevard and along North Wheeler Parkway west of Bobby Jones Expressway.

A tree came down on some power lines along Walton Way near Fleming Drive, and crews were quickly on the scene cutting it up. A tree also came down on Walton Way at Carriage Drive.

PHOTO GALLERY:

In Columbia County just before 1 p.m., a home was damaged in the 4400 block of Whisperwood in Martinez, where a tree fell on a house and went through the roof. Storm damage was also reported at 2227 Dry Creek Road.

Just before 2 p.m., Grovetown police were on the scene at the intersection of West Robinson Avenue and Wrightsboro Road after a traffic signal came down.

Also in Columbia County:

• At Knob Hill Farm Road and Knob Hill Drive in Evans, tree limbs were blocking the road.
• On Old Union Road in Harlem, a tree was downed by the storm.,
• In the 500 block of 524 McKinnes Line in Evans, a storm drain backed up, flooding a yard.
• In the 4000 block of Lee Place in Martinez, tree limbs were blocking the roadway.
• At Tom Bartles Road and Ray Owens Road in Appling, a tree was downed by the storm.
• In the 6500 block of George Walton Drive in Harlem, a tree was downed by the storm.
• At Baker Place Road and Kelarie Way in Grovetown, a downed tree was blocking the roadway.
• At Mullikin Road and Eagle Trace Lane in Evans, tree limbs were blocking the roadway.
• At Stevens Creek Road and St. Andrew’s Way in Martinez, a downed tree fell on a power line.
• On Lietz Court in Grovetown, a tree was downed by the storm.
• On Shucraft Road in Appling, a tree was downed by the storm.
• On Ridge Road in Appling, a tree was downed by the storm.
• Off Cobbham Road near Marshall Drive in Appling, trees were downed by the storm.

Elsewhere in the CSRA, damage included:

• Just before noon, lightning struck a house in the 8200 block of Gregory Road in Aiken County. No flames were reported, but there was smoke.
• Treetrops were snapped off in Lincoln County, as recorded in a photo sent to News 12 by a viewer.
• Multiple trees and power lines were down across Saluda County with roughly 500 power outages. Trees were down on Rock Hill Road, Greenwood Highway, Summerland Highway at Corley Bridge Road and Chappells Highway between Centennial and Highway 702. There was also a broken power pole with lines down on Ridge Spring Highway.
• Just before 2:30 p.m., a tree was reported blocking Red Hill Road between Antioch Baptist Church and Martintown Road. Trees also came in roadways near Johnston Highway and Long Cane Road, near Sleepy Creek Road and Timmerman Road and in the 2100 block of Highway 23 West, blocking both lanes, in Edgefield County.
• Trees were down in Burke County on Seven Oaks Road near Botsford Church Road, Story Mill Road at Spread Oak Road, Quaker Road and Cohen Road, and Thompson Bridge Road at Cox Place Road.
• In Washington County, multiple trees were down across the area, and rescuers were on the way to a report of a tree falling on an occupied camper.
• Just before 2 p.m., Highway 171 North was closed in Glascock County between Beall Springs Road and Chalker Road after a power pole came down.

Nearly every school district in the CSRA aside from Columbia County either canceled classes or switched to remote learning for the day. The big concern was safety on school buses, which are susceptible to being tipped over or blown by gusts because of their large surface area.

Across the CSRA, emergency management agencies, first responders and the Red Cross are all on standby.

Before reaching the CSRA, the storm laid a path of destruction in Florida.

The violent storm with 55 mph winds and hail moved through the Florida Panhandle and into parts of Alabama and Georgia by sunrise Tuesday, along with at least several reports of radar-confirmed tornadoes.

A wind gust of 106 mph was recorded before dawn near the coast in Walton County, Florida.

A section of Panama City Beach, Florida, showed parts of roofs blown away, furniture, fences and debris strewn about and a house that appeared tilted on side, leaning on another home.

The Walton County Sheriff’s Department in the Florida Panhandle posted photos of power lines draped across a road, damage to a gas station and large pieces of building materials littering the area.

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