Damage confirmed in Houston and Wilkinson counties, tornado threat lingers

Severe weather damage is being reported across Middle Georgia as Macon was deluged with nearly 4.5 inches of rain since midnight.

Damage is reported in Houston and Wilkinson counties after tornado warnings Friday.

According to preliminary damage reports out of Allentown, numerous buildings have been destroyed near Ga. 112 due to a suspected tornado at about 9 a.m.

A swath of downed trees, some on houses, has been reported from Centerville, down Watson Boulevard toward Robins Air Force Base.

The National Weather Service preliminary damage reports show a wind gust of 83 mph about 1 mile southeast of Elberta at about 7:50 a.m.

Houston County Emergency Management Agency Director said at least six homes were significantly damaged during the storm, forcing evacuation of the residents.

"We're currently still trying to get a good assessment of what's going on," Williams said. "We know we have multiple houses, multiple trees down between the Elberta Road area and Watson Boulevard."

The homes with major structural damage are located in an area from the west side of Houston County near the Centerville area and then moving to the east to the Green Street area in Warner Robins, he said.

The National Weather Service has dispatched a team to determine whether the storm produced an actual tornado.

"Right now, everything looks to me like ... the funnel stayed aloft and mostly just wind damage," Williams said.

The damage was mostly downed trees, power poles and power lines. Also, a parked 18-wheeler blew over in a vacant field.

No fatalities or injuries have been reported, he said.

Henry Kirkpatrick caught dramatic video of torrents of rain ripping across the pavement at Robins Air Force Base as workers prepared to close hangar doors and seek shelter.

"That was right as the sirens sounded," Kirkpatrick said.

He said he could not tell if was an actual tornado of a severe thunderstorm with winds of over 80 mph.

"I've never been in a tornado before, so I don't know."

The roof ripped off of another building on base where one worker was in side at the time.

"He was quaking in his boots," Kirkpatrick said.

Robins Air Force Base reported damage to a dozen buildings as winds were officially clocked at near 84 mph.

Nearly 50 power lines came down from straightline winds as more than an inch of rain triggered flooding of streets and parking lots.

The base airfield will remain closed until fallen debris can be cleared.

The Warner Robins Fire Department was called to the Home Depot on Watson Boulevard for a reported gas leak as employees evacuated the building.

At about 9:45 a.m., Flint Energies' Jimmy Autry reported 4,789 power outages in Middle Georgia with the bulk of the downed lines in Houston adn Crawford counties. Outages were reported earlier in Peach and Taylor counties, too.

"We have crews at most outages, but they have to go get news poles in some areas," Autry said. "It's going to be a long day, I do know that."

A volatile Friday morning of severe weather prompted tornado warnings in Houston, Peach, Crawford, Twiggs Taylor, Wilkinson, Bleckley and Laurens counties, and the threat continues into afternoon.

Just before 9 a.m. in Bleckley County, two homes along Moore Road were damaged by a suspected tornado about a mile north of Brown Hill.

Crawford County EMA director Rick Sharon said there are numerous trees down and Industrial Parkway outside of Roberta was flooded after 9 a.m.

Although there was a tornado warning earlier in the morning, there was no major damage.

"We're not doing too bad," Sharon said. "All minor stuff."

The National Weather Service has extended a tornado watch until 3 p.m. for all of Middle Georgia.

A flash flood watch is also in effect until midnight Friday after heavy rains with the system and more expected with an approaching cold front.

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 8:20 AM with the headline "Damage confirmed in Houston and Wilkinson counties, tornado threat lingers."