The cleanup continued into this afternoon after storms blew through east Alabama and west Georgia late Monday and into early Tuesday morning. The storm left thousands of area residents without power this morning. The Haralson County School District and Bremen City Schools cancelled all classes for the day due to power outages and unsafe travel caused by debris.

Haralson County officials believe that a tornado did touch down at some point. They suspect it traveled for up to 20 miles, from near the state line toward Buchanan. The National Weather Service is currently surveying the area to determine the intensity and distance traveled by the tornado.  

In Haralson County, multiple reports of trees falling on homes and two non-life threatening injuries have been reported. Crews also responded to a house fire caused by a candle being used when a home’s power was knocked out.
A number of roads in Haralson remain closed this afternoon, until Georgia power can clear and restore power lines on the roads.
Haralson County EMA Director, Brian Walker said that Broad Street was hit particularly hard but still hopes to open the road all the way to Alabama Street by the end of the day. Roads the still closed are: Bethany Church Rd, Ivy Pope Rd, Old Bush Mill at Wilson, Poplar Springs Rd, Mt. Zion Church Rd and George Green Rd.

Carroll County EMA Director Tim Padgett said several area homes were damaged by wind and debris. Numerous trees and power lines were reported down in the northern part of the county but luckily no injuries were reported . Padgett said any roads that are closed should be reopening at 5:00. Padgett also addressed the fact that sirens were not sounded during the storm.

Padgett said,”We were never issued a tornado warning for these storms. We were only issued a severe thunderstorm warning. That is the reason that the outdoor sirens did not blow. We only blow those sirens during a tornado warning.”

Villa Rica Mayor Jeff Reese and the public works crew surveyed the damage in the City of Gold. Several public buildings, including the new public library and facilities at Gold Dust Park, sustained minor damage. Reese spoke about the cleanup efforts, ” This is going to be a time consuming project. It will take us several weeks to finish. Charles Davis, who is over our public works department, said this was one of the worst cleanup efforts that he has been a part of in over 15 years. That gives you an idea of how much cleanup we have.”

Carroll EMC Communications Director, Jay Gill, said that at peak outage during the storm, 8,000 customers were left without power in Carroll and Haralson counties. He reported that 500 customers are still without power but they hope to restore those homes by the end of the day.