Tropical Storm — Northern Ware, Georgia

2023-08-30 · Northern Ware, Georgia

Event narrative

NWS Storm Survey estimated sustained winds of 40 to 60 mph with gusts of 60 to 75 mph on 8/30. There

was extensive tree blown down in a neighborhood southeast of GA State Road 84 and in the Waycross area.

Numerous power lines were blown down. Several well built homes were 'destroyed' due to trees through

them. American Lube Fast business along Memorial Dr. suffered significant damage with the windows blown

through and debris scattered.

At 1115, a mesonet site about 3 miles SSW of Waresboro measured a wind gust of 49 mph. At 1130, a

mesonet site 2 miles WSW of Waycross measured a 41 mph wind gust at the Ware County Recreation

Department. At 1135, the AWOS at the Ware County Airport (KAYS) measured a wind gust of 44 mph. At

1201, A wind gust of 43 mph was measured at a RAWs station (Oke-West) in the Okefenokee NWR. At 1204,

a RAWs station about 2 miles W of Deenwood (OKEG1) measured a wind gust of 53 mph. At 1210, the AWOS

KAYS measured a wind gust of 46 mph. At 1304, the RAWS station OKEG1 measured a wind gust of 56 mph.

At 1315, the public reported an awning was blown off of a government building in Waycross. A large sign 6

feet in diameter next to the building was blown over. At 1320, the mesonet site at the Ware County

Recreation Department measured a wind gust of 48 mph. At 1409, the RAWs station OKEG1 measured a

wind gust of 59 mph. At 1529, the emergency manager stated the Cherokee Heights Subdivision in Waycross

sustained multiple trees down or snapped in half. One tree fell through the roof of a home.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning August 30th around 745 AM EDT along the

Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach as a category 3, with the inner core moving NE across the

Suwannee River Valley. The inner wind core of Idalia gradually weakened through the morning while,

heavily impacting Suwannee and Hamilton counties in NE Florida and Echols county SE Georgia as the

circulation tracked NE. Widespread tree, power line and structure damage occurred across Suwannee

and Hamilton counties, with estimated winds of 80-100 mph based on damage surveys with isolated

pockets of peak wind gusts near major hurricane strength. Outer rainbands on the eastside of Idalia

impacted all of SE Georgia and NE FL through the day, with early morning tornadoes across coastal SE

Georgia and widespread tropical cyclone wind gusts through the day causing tree damage and power

line damage at least somewhere across NE Florida and SE Georgia. Measured gusts during the peak of

the hurricane acorss the local forecast area were 60-80 mph. Flooding rainfall impacted locations in

the direct path of the weakening inner core across the Suwannee River Valley and southeast Georgia,

especially from eastern Hamilton county toward Baxley and Jesup GA. The peak rainfall amounts were

up to 5-8 inches. At least 3 tornadoes occurred in southeast GA as rainbands swept northwestward

ahead of the hurricane.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1126888. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.