Tropical Storm — De Kalb, Georgia

2024-09-26 to 2024-09-27 · De Kalb, Georgia

Event narrative

The emergency manager of DeKalb County passed along about 100 reports of trees and powerlines down, including at at the 1200 block of Fleetwood Dr, the 2200 block of McCurdy Rd, the 7200 block of S Goddard Rd, Mercer University Dr near the intersection with Flowers Rd S, Columbia Dr between Columbia Ct and Spring Valley Rd, the 1200 block of Robinwood Rd, the 2300 block of Burnt Creek Rd, the intersection of Bouldercrest Rd and Woodfen Dr, Musket Ln near the intersection with Silver Hill Rd, the intersection of Marbut Rd and Taffeta Trl, the 4700 block of Cedar Park Way, the intersection of Casa Dr and Mell Ave, the 700 block of Allgood Rd, and I-20 eastbound before the exit to Flat Shoals Road.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the Big Bend region of Florida at 11 PM EDT. Helene moved quickly inland bringing wind gusts between 50 and 100 mph to portions of east and central Georgia. Widespread rainfall totals between 6 and 14 inches were observed in association with Helene across north and central Georgia. The highest rainfall amounts were primarily observed in portions of east-central Georgia and in the Atlanta Metropolitan area. Due to the prolonged heavy rain, numerous instances of flash flooding and river flooding were reported. The combination of strong winds and heavy rain also downed millions of trees with widespread power outages and numerous structures damaged or destroyed, mostly from falling trees. Ahead of Hurricane Helene, there were several showers/storms in the rainbands that had low-level rotation. One of these storms spawned a short-lived tornado occurred in Wheeler County during the evening of the 26th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1218467. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.