Clean-up continued Friday in Habersham County following a line of severe thunderstorms Thursday that left behind non-functioning traffic signals, downed trees, wrecks, fires, and report of someone being hit by lightning.
In all, according to county spokesman Rob Moore, there were a dozen calls involving downed power lines or transformer issues,14 tree-related calls, three wrecks, and three incidents reported as possible fires.
On Garrison Road, just off Mud Creek Road outside Cornelia, no one was hurt when
a vehicle struck a cluster of trees that had just fallen blocking the road.
Habersham County Sheriff’s Office units kept traffic back while Habersham County
Road Department personnel worked to clear the trees, ultimately using heavy
equipment to remove them from the road.
Around that same time, crews were called to New Liberty Road outside Clarkesville
where downed utility lines and a broken pole presented a danger to motorists. Road
department personnel closed the road in both directions to allow power pole
replacement and line restoration. It took crews about five hours before the road
was cleared at 10:30 p.m.
The only reported storm-related injury was a man outside Cornelia believed to be
struck by lightning as the storm moved through.
(Garrison Road. Photo courtesy Habersham PIO Rob Moore.)