Friday, July 8, 2005

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Storm rocks Senoia

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com
and JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

When day broke yesterday in Senoia, residents were still assessing some of the destruction from Wednesday night’s storms.

The massive storms rolled into this eastern Coweta city, just as residents were sitting down to dinner. The torrential rains left many streets flooded and nearby Starr’s Mill overflowing its banks.

Lightning from thunderstorms sparked by Tropical Storm Cindy, later downgraded to a tropical depression, struck a large tree causing limbs to break and fall on the ground on Barnes Street in downtown Senoia

“We were just sitting in there and we heard something that sounded like gunshots,” said Ashley Willey of Senoia. “The house shook and I guess that’s when that fell down.”

Ashley Chappell, who lives at 21 Barnes St., and several others at the house were getting ready to have a cookout when lightning struck the tree.

“We were fixing to come out here and light the grill when it happened, so we ran,” Chappell said.

The tree limb fell, taking the power lines with it, causing the wire to spark, Chappell said.

On Wednesday evening, Chappell and Willey were keeping one eye on the broken tree limbs that spilled into the roadway obstructing traffic, and another eye on the tree limb that snapped during last year’s hurricane and was still hanging on by a thread.

“One tree limb fell and tore off the back of the house last year and we thought that was going to happen to this one,” Chappell said.

She said her family has asked the city to come out and cut off the hanging tree limb, but nothing has been done.

“It’s the property of the city, so we can’t do nothing about it,” Chappell said.

Chappell is worried. She has three children and she is afraid the other tree limb might snap and someone will get hurt.

Meanwhile, the damage in other parts of Senoia were visible. A tornado reportedly touched down on Luther Bailey Road, Coweta County Sheriff’s Officials said.

Street signs lay twisted and bent. Some traffic signs were uprooted. One tree was uprooted and tossed into a field on Luther Bailey Road.

Senoia Police Sgt. Jason Edens said the city had several tree branches down, with one major branch landing directly in front of City Hall. Power went out briefly in some areas of the city,along with satellite television service.

Edens said he heard reports of the tornado at Luther Bailey, along with another one touching down at Rockhouse Road and Elders Mill Road. He also heard that a tornado was spotted, but did not touch down at Rockhouse Road and Old Ga. Highway 85.