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Ivan takes it easier on Fayette

Possible tornado reported in south Fayette as storm cranked up Thursday afternoon

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Hurricane Ivan wasn’t quite as mean to Fayette County as it was elsewhere.

But we did get 6 inches of rain, much of it coming in a short time frame, leaving some streets temporarily flooded. And there was a report of a possible tornado sighting in south Fayette County, said Capt. Pete Nelms of the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

The tornado was reported around 4 p.m., shortly after the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Fayette County, Nelms noted.

Tornado warning sirens were heard wailing in Fayetteville in Peachtree City at the height of the storm.

There were also scattered power outages all over the county, officials said.

In Peachtree City, a tree caused significant damage to a home on Park Leaf while several other homes had minor damage from trees, said Assistant Fire Chief Ed Eiswerth. There was also some minor flooding in Tinsley Mill Village off Lake Peachtree, but no water got into any of the homes there, he said.

Early wind blasts from Ivan also took down the traffic light at the intersection of Ga. Highway 74 and Cooper Drive.

Peachtree City was helped tremendously because so many utility lines are buried underground, Eiswerth said, thus eliminating the problem of lines cut by falling trees.

In Fayetteville, several townhomes at the Jeff Davis Intown development had a minor amount of flooding and a few other homes had water come near —Êbut not inside — the structure, said Assistant Fire Chief Linda Partridge.

“We fared very well,” Partridge said.

No injuries were reported in Peachtree City or Fayetteville, officials said.

Peachtree City resident Scott Allen had a large pine tree fall on his home at 313 Park Leaf in the Center Green subdivision. He wasn’t home when it happened but was impressed that firefighters moved a number of things from upstairs —Êwhere they might get wet — to his garage area where they would stay dry.

At first, he didn’t know what had happened, and his first thought was that “someone was looting” the house.

Allen said he came home in the dark late in the evening and at first couldn’t figure out why his garage door wouldn’t open. It was because power had been shut off to the home because of the fire hazard, he said.

Another home in north Fayette was struck by a falling tree, and three persons from that incident were sheltered overnight by the American Red Cross, Nelms said.

The county’s road department did a good job of helping keep roadways clear, as trees and other debris caused problems at 22 different locations in unincorporated Fayette County, Tyrone, Brooks and Woolsey, Nelms said.

The department also responded to four homes with minor flooding issues. While the monetary damage may mount, it won’t be as high as after Hurricanes Alberto and Opal almost 10 years ago, Nelms noted.