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Tornado ruled out in Wednesday storm

Verdict: Straight-line winds upwards of 50 mph

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The National Weather Service has ruled out a tornado as the culprit in Wednesday morning’s storm, based on observations collected after the storm.

The official ruling is that the county was hit by straight-line winds upwards of 50 miles per hour “to the best of our determination,” a NWS forecaster said Friday morning.

An airborne spotter surveyed the county after the storm along with ground spotters deployed to observe, among other things, in what direction trees fell, officials said.

The determination by the weather services contrasts with reports from Peachtree City’s Planterra Ridge subdivision of a loud roaring sound. Also, at least one resident in east Fayette reported that a tornado struck his home, causing minimal damage.

Worried a tornado was about to strike, officials issued a tornado warning for Fayette County around 10 a.m. Even though a tornado has been ruled out, that’s little help to the dozens of local residents who suffered storm damage in Peachtree City and in south and east Fayette County.

The winds forced some trees to fall on homes, including one in Peachtree City with such damage that the resident was banned from staying overnight due to questions about the roof’s integrity.

Downed power lines and debris caused blockages of Ga. Highway 92 south and westbound Ga. Highway 54 in downtown Fayetteville.

The damaged power lines caused a large amount of outages, officials said.