Thunderstorm Wind — Banks, Georgia

2008-07-08 · near Gillsville, Banks, Georgia

Event narrative

The Banks County Emergency Management Director reported that more than a dozen trees were down across the county. A number of trees were down in the western part of the county along Georgia Highway 51 and Hickory Flat Road between Gillsville and Homer, and in the eastern part of the county on Georgia Highway 51 between U.S. Highway 441 and the Franklin county line. A 70 year-old male was killed on Rock Springs Road, approximately four miles northwest of Homer, when a tree fell on his home. He was killed instantly when the tree fell on the bedroom portion of his mobile home.

Wider weather episode

While the upper low to the northeast of Georgia, across the mid-Atlantic was weakening, a weak upper trough lingered across this region. This combined with typical July heat and humidity was more than adequate for another afternoon of significant pulse thunderstorms, several of which became severe. The activity lingered into the early morning hours of the 9th. There was even one fatality in Banks county in northeast Georgia when a tree fell on a house. The slow movement and clustering of thunderstorms across north central Georgia in Forsyth, Dawson, and Lumpkin counties prompted flash flood warnings. A minor flash flood event was observed in Dawson county.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.3000, -83.6300)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 124005. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.