Flooding, power outages caused by strong storms

BROOKHAVEN, Ga. - A bout of wicked weather left portions of metro Atlanta cleaning up and without power for several hours Thursday.

Storms dumping upwards of two inches of rain and lightning tore through the area starting Thursday afternoon. The light show and accompanying thunder weren’t the only side effects of the storm. Firefighters were busy handling calls for fires believed to be started by lightning strikes.

At the height of the storm, more than 30,000 Georgia Power customers were without electricity. Some of the hardest hit areas included Chamblee, Brookhaven and Dunwoody, which combined, made up about half of those outages. Some of the crews were working since about 8:30 p.m., just after the storms passed. Some homes were without power for more than four hours as crews worked to restore service.

The cause of many of those outages was caused by trees that were toppled during the storm. One of those trees came down Ashford-Dunwoody Road near Johnson Ferry Road in Brookhaven where crews worked for hours to clear the blocked roadway of not just the foliage, but power lines that were brought down with it. Traffic had to be routed around the area because of the amount of damage. Officials also reported trees down Admirla Drive and Montford Drive in Chamblee.

The rain also caused roadway flooding. FOX 5 got view and emails from several places around Atlanta showing roads nearly impassable during the storm.

Despite all the damage, most officials believe all the roadways and damage should be cleared in time for the morning commute.