It is 11:00 o'clock on Sunday
morning and it has been an actie
morning across North Georgia.
A large dangerous tornado,
violent tornado touched down in Troop County,
Southern Troop County S La Grange and
tracked into Merriweather County as well.
We have several crews that are out there.
Gathering information,
getting firsthand account from people down
there in Troop County on what they heard,
what they saw and what they're
left with in the aftermath.
And photos this morning coming .
Our first photos show some
of the hardest hit areas.
We're in West Point,
right along West Point Rd.
These photos you notice here trs
down structures that are crumbld
underneath the weight of those trees.
And there's one area in particu,
right around that West Point Rd.
You see right here, houses are flattened.
There's hardly trees that are left there.
So it's a very chaotic scene
in Troop County right now.
Troop County is asking,
officials are asking you if youe
in that area to stay off the ros
and if you are needing assistane
in the aftermath of the tornado.
There is a shelter open.
The American Red Cross has
opened a shelter and that is.
Open right now for people who need it.
All right.
So there's a lot of damage down there.
I want to kind of give you a
baseline of what we know right .
The tornado moved through right
around 7:00 o'clock this mornin.
We had a confirmation debris spd
on radar that there was a tornao
on the ground and shortly aftert
starting to hear rumblings from Troop
County of of the damage of homes that
were hit very hard and a lot oft
again was in Southern Troop Cou.
Not far from West Point in West Point,
not in LaGrange itself,
but South of the city of LaGran.
There were trees that were down near the
Kia plant right along I-85I-85 I 185.
Both of those interstates were
briefly shut down because there
were trees on top of the roadwa.
And this is an image from LaGrange right now,
where we've still been seeing a lot of rain.
That's on the roads now
in Merriweather County.
We also had tornado damage,
and in fact some of that tornado
damage happening at the Wildlans
Animal Safari Park where two
tigers got on the loose.
We have heard from Troop County Sheriff's
that one of those tigers was captured,
but they're telling people still down in
Meriweather County north of Pine Mountain,
GA,
north of Callaway Gardens wheret
tornado hit that that while they
never Safari Park did sustain damage,
there is still 1 tiger unaccound
for in the park.
So they're asking you to stay
off the roadways.
Meanwhile in West .2 injuries ad
another injury that has been reported
and is being transported right ported.
Right now those are being treated at the
Wellstar hospital down in a troop county.
So it is a bit of a chaotic
scene right now and the
images that you just saw,
those are just our first images.
And tonight at 11 live news at ,
our team has been out there this
morning and they're going to be
gathering more information of of
what people heard and saw there.
I want to update you though on n
where we stand weather wise bece
we're not done with storms yet.
In fact things are really active out there.
Let me show your current watches and we
don't have any warnings at the moment
but we have in this orange color this
is a severe thunderstorm watch which is
going to run until 1:00 o'clock today.
So that's South of Athens.
And then well including Athens d
then we have a tornado watch ths
also in effect until 1:00 o'clock and
that does still include Troup County,
Merriweather County, Pike, Lama,
Upson and out towards Jackson County as well.
So that is the current situation right now
in terms of our severe weather threats,
but it's really not a severe tht
at this point is the main conce.
The heavy rain is the main conc.
Look at this just area,
huge area where we have rain inundating
the same spots over and over ag.
There's a front that is stalled.
I'll draw it here on you right about here,
okay.
And these areas of heavy rain
embedded thunderstorms are.
Are training along and just
north of that front.
So what does training mean?
It means the areas are like tra,
cars running on a train tracks.
They are all going over the same
areas over and over and over ag.
And that puts us in a situation
where some places have gotten jt
enormous amounts of rainfall in
a matter of three or four hours.
I put up here the radar estimats
for rainfall and I'll zoom intoe
of these in Pike and Lamar coun.
Barnesville area not far from Concord.
Let me query some of these so you can
see just how much rain we've go.
Some areas estimated 5 inches
of rain right there.
Merriweather County about
3 to 4 inches of rain.
Let me take this further West so
we can look at some of the rainl
totals in Troop County where tht
tornado touched down earlier,
and the heaviest rain rates.
And totals rather have been over
3 inches there as well in Troop
County and Merriweather countie.
So there are several flash flood
warnings in effect and a flood
watch which is going to run untl
8:00 o'clock tomorrow morning fr
that potential for heavy rainfa.
So we transition a little bit ay
from the severe threat at the moment,
but the flooding threat is that
much more significant.
I want to tell you some roads
though in Upson County to avoid.
There have been several roads that have
been washed out due to the heavy rainfall.
Those roads include,
let's see if I can get them up ,
Crest Highway closed due to flooding.
That's in the Upson County,
Pike County Line, Turner Lake R.
Washed out as well near McCreary Road and
then we also have flash flooding in Jones Rd.
That road is washed out
as well in Upson County,
so a lot of flooding damage.
Wooden Bridge Rd.
in Molita in Upson County
is completely underwater.
So the severe thunderstorm,
the tornado risk areas,
those are going to be.
Kind of weakening or lowering for us,
but the flooding risk is going
to stay very real for us.
Let me show you the
forecast track hour by hour.
And we do have the areas of heavy rain
thunderstorms right on top of u.
Now, the next couple of hours
for us will likely see some of
that radar lightening up a bit
on the north side of the metro.
But I want to show you by 4:30 w
if we get some breaks in that r,
we can have additional storms
pivot in and any storm that popp
later on today could potentially
become strong or severe again.
So that's something that we're watching.
As we head into the evening and overnight,
that boundary,
that front that's stalled on top of us,
might try to lift a little bit
further north again and that cod
bring a better widespread pictue
to the rain as we head into the
overnight first thing tomorrow morning
for your Monday morning commute.
More areas getting in on that hy
rainfall as the front is draped on top of us.
But models have been trending in
a good way for tomorrow afterno,
showing some drier air startingo
move in behind the front and tht
would take the rain picture out of here.
Let me show you the outlook from
the Storm Prediction Center stil
having that level one threat of
severe weather on top of the meo
level 2 threat in areas South.
And that level 2 threat again ir
the potential for damaging winds hail.
We had some huge hail amounts ts
morning and also the isolated tornado threat.
And in fact Speaking of hail,
I want to show you some photos
from earlier today.
Our 11 live viewers have been sending
in photos and that hail threat .
The greatest between about 4:00
o'clock this morning and 7:00
o'clock before we really starteo
see the heavy rainfall picking ,
Ansley took a bunch of photos fm
meansville down in Pike County and wow,
you see these hailstones?
That's an inch and 1/2 in diame.
That one on the left almost
looks closer to an inch and 3/4.
But it was about ping pong balle
hail that fell there between pig
pong ball size and golf ball size hail.
Another hail photo coming in frm
one of our 11 live storm tracke,
Kelly and Molina.
And this hail a little bit smal,
about half dollar size hail.
Also another photo from LaGrang.
And although LaGrange itself did
not sustain tornado damage,
they did get a lot of big hail m
these storms that move through.
So again just kind of recapping as we
take a picture, a live picture .
LaGrange and Troop County Tornao
touched down this morning just before
7:00 o'clock and that tornado md
through Southern Troop County io
southern Merriweather County and there
are people that need your thougs
and if you're a religious person need
your prayers today there are hos
that we can show those videos ad
photos again Brian in the contrl
room photos where you don't seee
houses left standing trees are really
broken in half and snapped and.
This is something the National Weather
Service will start to survey in terms
of the damage as we get into tomorrow.
They're probably likely too busy today
with all of the storms that are ongoing,
but that is what we are left wih
in Southern Troop County.
So two people being treated right now
at the hospital 1/3 is on their way in.
And we have multiple crews thate
down there in troop and Meriwear
counties that are going to be ot
there talking to people who experience
this tornado first hand and reay
get some accounts of the damage.
Right now, look there,
more trees down right there in p
County right now we transition
to more of a flooding threat.
We did have many trees on top
of the road on I-85 and I-185.
We have not heard yet if those s
are completely back open again.
But we do know that just into our newsroom,
Brian Kemp,
our governor has issued a state
of emergency to this helps us gt
and release resources to help wh
Tornado aid down in those areas.
Hardest hit and this actually c.
Almost two years to the day sine
we had an EF4 tornado,
our last EF4 tornado touchdown in Newnan
Coweta in county in the area of Newton.
So again,
Southern Troop County,
Southern Merryweather County hit very
badly by a tornado this morning.
But as at this point the tornado threat is
really winding down for us at the moment.
Flooding,
that is our biggest threat to go from here
as we work our way into the afternoon
our teams are gathering more resources.
There's a news conference is gog
to be taking place here shortly
down in Troop County.
We hope to learn.
Information there and again staf
emergency issued by Governor Brn
Kemp troop in Meriweather Countt
by a tornado first thing this morning.
We'll have more on 11 alive plus at 11
alive.com throughout the day to.