Region sees heavy rains, tornadic winds, hail on wet Saturday

ALBANY — National Weather Service personnel were in southern Dougherty County Sunday morning, investigating reports of a tornado in the region during Saturday’s weather event that hit southwest Georgia with strong winds, more than 4 inches of rain and large hail over a 13-hour period.

The NWS’s Tallahassee, Florida, office said Sunday that 4.19 inches of rain fell at the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport from 9:30 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. Saturday. Many people in the region reported larger rainfall amounts, some as much as 7 inches.

“We have people there in Dougherty County inspecting the damage this morning,” the NWS’s Jasmine Montgomery said during a phone call Sunday. “There was considerable damage reported in that area — mostly trees down.

“The apparent cause of the damage, at least from the initial assessment, was straight-line winds. We haven’t found evidence so far that there was a tornado in the region.”

Albany City Commissioner B.J. Fletcher said she saw an unusual sight Saturday at a little after 5 p.m. while checking her Ward III for possible damage.

“At 5:15, I was driving down Slappey, looking at some problem areas in my ward,” Fletcher said in an email to The Albany Herald. “On the corner of Slappey and 8th, winds (obviously were) so hard they flipped a manhole. I would say, yes, we had strong winds.

“And on a side note, when I made a call to the city, the problem was fixed in 11 minutes. Not bad when your city employees can take their time, in a storm, to repair a problem. So yes, all crews were out yesterday and fresh crews were going out this morning. Just wanted to show the severity of the winds to the few who think the city can control all problems.”

A Sunday-morning report from the Albany Police Department indicated a number of storm-based issues, including:

♦ Traffic lights out at Jefferson/Seventh, Jefferson/Second, Jefferson/Fourth, Jefferson/Tift, on the 300 block of West Broad Avenue, the 300 block of West Tift Avenue, at Slappey Boulevard/Liberty Expressway, at Slappey/14th, at Turner Field Road/Clark Avenue and on the 2600 block of Ledo Road;

♦ Trees down, blocking the road on the 900 block of Fifth Avenue, the 900 block of Tallahassee Road, the 900 block of Eight Mile Road, the 2500 block of Fox Ridge Drive, the 1100 block of Ninth Avenue and the 1000 block of Spring Hill Road;

♦ Electrical wires down on the 1600 block of Stuart Avenue, the 2800 block of Capers Drive, the 700 block of Willie Pitts Road, the 1600 block of Palmyra Road, the 2300 block of Hubert Drive and the 2700 block of Palmyra Road.

Several individuals in the community reported golf ball-sized hail, and a report of water on the roadway along Lovers Lane Road turned out to be unfounded.