Strong storms batter midstate as rainfall tops 5 inches in Macon

As a strong spring storm system bore down on Middle Georgia early Friday, people huddled in closets, pulled their cars under highway overpasses and faced flooding and high winds, including a handful of suspected tornadoes.

There were no reported fatalities or injuries.

Tornado sirens wailed as early as 3 a.m. after radar indicated possible rotation in a line of storms cutting through Taylor and Crawford counties headed toward Macon. At the Middle Georgia Regional Airport, 5.16 inches of rain fell between midnight Thursday and 6 p.m. Friday, which set a new Macon record for that date, said Ryan Willis, a National Weather Service forecaster. The previous April 1 record of 2.63 inches was set in 1981.

Another voracious line of storms kicked up in Taylor, Crawford and Peach counties about 7 a.m. That line took aim at Centerville in Houston County about 30 minutes later and tore down Watson Boulevard. Meanwhile, Home Depot employees in Warner Robins left their building after a gas leak brought out the fire department.

Late Friday afternoon, a state of emergency was declared in Warner Robins, allowing the city to benefit from outside help.

David J. Nadler, part of a National Weather Service team assessing whether a tornado actually touched down in Houston County, said there is evidence indicating one.

"We have detected what looks to be the beginning of a tornado track. Around that, though, there are trees that have been knocked down from the thunderstorm wind damage alone," Nadler said. "So we have a combination of the two."

Jimmy Williams, Houston County's Emergency Management Agency director, said fewer than 20 people were displaced from their homes. Affected families are receiving help from the American Red Cross.

About 10 Houston County homes were destroyed or suffered moderate damage, but only about 20 percent of the damage had been surveyed as of late Friday. He said the numbers of homes damaged could end up being much higher. Most of the damage came in the form of downed trees, power poles and power lines. Meanwhile, a parked 18-wheeler blew over in a vacant field.

At Robins Air Force Base, roofs on a dozen buildings were damaged, and just before 8 a.m., the base clocked wind gusts nearing 83 mph.

Henry Kirkpatrick caught dramatic video of a deluge ripping across the pavement at the base as workers prepared to close hangar doors and seek shelter.

The maintenance worker said he could not tell if an actual twister touched down.

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

Wind ripped the roof off one base building, which had a worker inside it at the time.

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

Across the base, nearly 50 power lines came down from straight-line winds as heavy rain triggered the flooding of streets and parking lots, according to a news release from the base. The base airfield will remain closed until fallen debris can be cleared.

Warner Robins City Hall shut down after water got into the building and the power went out. Mayor Randy Toms said a large amount of water came in through the roof and got into a computer room.

Nearly 7,000 Flint Energies customers lost electricity across Middle Georgia. Only 307 of them remained without power at 6:15 p.m. Friday, with all power hoped to be restored by midnight.

"In most every case, it was trees downed," Jimmy Autry, a Flint Energies vice president, said Friday night. "It was not just dead trees that we see during regular thunderstorms, but obviously, the storm pushed up live, green trees."

The storms continued to track eastward, prompting more warnings in Twiggs, Wilkinson, Laurens and Bleckley counties.

According to preliminary damage reports from Allentown, at least two buildings were destroyed near Ga. 112 by a suspected tornado about 9 a.m. The National Weather Service later confirmed it was an EF-1 tornado with 90 mph winds. The tornado touched down near Moore Road in Twiggs County and lifted near Allentown in Bleckley County.

Crawford County EMA Director Rick Sharon said numerous trees were down and that 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."

A flash flood watch was posted until midnight Friday, and flooding along creeks, rivers and streams can be expected.

In Macon, which was spared much of the damage that neighboring counties received, the heavy rain canceled all of Friday's outdoor events at the Cherry Blossom Festival and stripped delicate spring blooms from their branches.

Macon-Bibb County closed the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail and Amerson Water Park because of the rapidly rising Ocmulgee River.

Bibb County sheriff's deputies and Public Works crews worked feverishly to clear traffic accidents and downed trees that were blocking roads.

Emergency Management Director Spencer Hawkins spent the night in the county's storm bunker after activating the Emergency Operations Center about 9 p.m. Thursday after the tornado watch was issued for Middle Georgia.

When it appeared that the first line of severe storms were on track to hit Bibb County, Hawkins fired off the tornado sirens for about three minutes about 3 a.m.

"We had this huge severe storm cell kind of making a beeline to us," Hawkins said. "We wanted to make sure everyone had warning, especially at that time of night."

Once Hawkins received word that Bibb County would not be included in the tornado warning, he turned off the sirens.

Telegraph writer Wayne Crenshaw contributed to this report. To contact writer Liz Fabian, call 744-4303 and follow her on Twitter@liz_lines. To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559.

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Strong storms batter midstate as rainfall tops 5 inches in Macon ."