Hurricane (Typhoon) — Coffee, Georgia
2024-09-27 to 2024-09-28 · Coffee, Georgia
Event narrative
Widespread downed trees and power lines were reported across the county, especially along GA HWY 32. Many roads were blocked due to downed trees and powerlines across the county. There were numerous reports of structural damage and fallen trees on residences destroying roofs and causing some entrapments. Schools to be closed through at least October 4th. There was one fatality due to a tree falling directly on a mobile home and killing one person inside.
On 9/26 around 2:33 pm, the EM reported and a video confirmed a Tornado about 1 mile NNE of Broxton on the ground near Highway 268. Minor structure damage occurred including shingles blown off and a double-wide trailer was shifted off of its foundation at 2507 and 2807 Highway 268E. Multiple trees were blown down with confirmed damage at 1668, 1700 and 1732 George Deen Road. Some trees fell and destroyed a carport and caused some damage to the home.
At 1 am on 9/27, the public reported several trees were blown down in a yard in Pridgen. At 2 am on 9/27, the EM reported the roof was blown off of a shelter in Nicholls. Injuries were unknown at the time of the report. In Douglas, there was extensive roof damage with metal roofs blown off of manufactured homes, shopping centers, businesses, and the City of Douglas fire station. Widespread uprooted and snapped trees fell on homes and manufactured homes in the Douglas area, especially along Walker St, Gaskin Ave, and Golf Club Rd. This resulted in widespread significant roof damage with numerous homes' roofs and walls collapsing from the fallen trees. High winds also caused the total destruction of multiple mobile homes. A school along GA-158 in Douglas suffered a collapse of their concrete-block hallway structure, a significant portion of the roof was blown off and debris scattered across the grounds, and part of the concrete walls were destroyed. Windows were blown out and carports collapsed in Douglas. In Nicholls, a cell phone tower was knocked down and destroyed along Sessoms Rd. The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) reported that 100 poultry farms in Coffee County were affected by the storm with numerous reports of flattened or damaged chicken houses.
A Weatherstem site east of Douglas reported a sustained wind of 46 mph with a gust to 92 mph from the SE at about 2:15 am.
Wider weather episode
Hurricane Helene made landfall as a category 4 with peak winds of near 140 mph in the Florida Big
Bend just east of the Aucilla River Entrance in Taylor County, late Thursday evening September 26,
2024. Helene's main impact to southeast Georgia and northeast Florida was wind damage as it
tracked quickly north-northeast. The very powerful hurricane and the forward motion produced a
wide swath of wind damage across the forecast area with peak wind gusts 55 to 75 mph across the
eastern half of the area, and western zones up to 75 to 100 mph from the Suwannee Valley area
northward through interior southeast GA. The max wind gust of 100 mph was measured at the Alma
GA ASOS in the early morning hours of Friday September 27th. Given the strength of these winds,
widespread power outages, structure damage and downed or uprooted trees occurred across inland
southeast GA and portions of northeast FL. At least 1 tornado occurred, which was in Coffee county.
Maximum rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches were located over western half of the area.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1217248. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.