Suspected tornado damage homes in southern Cobb County
The Austell and Lithonia Springs areas were hard hit after a severe storm. There was no tornado warning at the time, but residents believe it may have caused damage. A National Weather Service investigative team will attempt to determine the cause.
Cobb County, Georgia – The Ooster district was hit hard by Thursday’s severe storm.
Several homes were badly damaged or destroyed after the trees fell.
“It just snapped in half and fell in my bedroom, my parents’ bedroom, and our bathroom,” Brian Varela said.
Varela says the damage inside his house in Poplar Log Place in Austell is “crazy” after a tree fell on Thursday afternoon.
A video he shot from inside shows tree branches poking through the walls, and one room is missing a roof.
Photo: Severe storm damage in Georgia
He was in his bedroom just before the tree fell.
“There’s nothing that can describe what it sounded like, but something similar is like a big firework going off nearby,” Valera said.
About a mile away, on Oak Ridge Road in Lithia Springs, a car fell onto a utility pole and transformer as a severe storm passed through the area on Thursday afternoon.
Douglas County lawmakers said the driver was taken to the hospital.
Nearby, a concrete block wall collapsed at an 18-wheeler parts supply store. An employee was inside, but was not injured.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Haven Dunn. “We all went back there to assess the damage. I could see outside. It was just crazy.”
Valera is grateful that she was not injured.
“It was scary. It was the craziest thing that ever happened,” he said. “I’ve had crazy things happen before, but this is the best.”
No one in the area was seriously injured, Cobb County said.