Homeowners spend day cleaning up after storm rips through metro

ATLANTA — Crews spent the day Wednesday clearing streets throughout the metro after powerful storms ripped down trees, crushed cars and hit homes.

The storms are blamed for one death in Jackson County. Jason Lee Combs, 29, died when a tree fell onto his house in the Cambridge Farms subdivision around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The tree fell onto his bedroom. Sheriff’s officials said his wife and children were also in the bedroom but were not hurt.

Severe Weather Team 2’s Brian Monahan was in Forsyth County on Wednesday afternoon when he saw the effects that 60 mph straight-line winds left behind.

The northern half of the county spent hours without power because of downed trees and power lines throughout the area.

Homeowners told Monahan it all happened in a matter of seconds.

"It just come all at once and it was gone. About five, 10 seconds," David Parks told Monahan.

Monahan found a shed that had its roof blown 300 feet away.

The wind also left some damage to Parks’ roof.

"Just the roof. So far, trees down and the roof. I hope that's all. That's all I've seen so far, anyway,” Parks told Monahan.

In Marietta, a family narrowly escaped serious injury after a tree fell on their home.

"The tree actually fell on the kids' bedroom. They were thankful no one was in there and everybody's OK," David Abrohams with the American Red Cross told Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt.

As they figured out how they could help the Reyes family, power crews came to their home cut the electricity.

City officials had condemned the home, forcing them to gather what they could and move out.

Edwin Reyes said his wife was in the kitchen when the winds shoved the huge tree into the home, flattening the rear bedroom and bathroom, and crushing most of the kitchen.

The Red Cross offered money for a few days’ worth of housing but promised the help would not end there.

“We have case workers that follow through with their recovery process until they're back in a permanent residence," Abrohams told Cavitt.

Channel 2's Liz Artz was on Briarcliff Road Wednesday morning as crews removed a large tree from the road.

There were downed trees in several other parts of DeKalb County.

Artz was at a house on Tanner Drive in Scottdale, where a huge tree was uprooted and fell into the yard.

Crews used a chain saw to cut up a large tree uprooted by the storm overnight on Interlochen Drive in northeast Atlanta.

The tree snapped utility poles in half and left a cable, telephone and power lines suspended in the air.

Broken trees also took down power lines on Woodhaven Drive in northwest Atlanta, blocking the street and leaving homeowners in the dark.

Lightning and heavy rain had people ducking for cover in Gordon County near Highway 53 Tuesday night.

“I couldn't see anything, so I turned around trying to head for cover,” one resident said.

Cox Media Group