Metro Atlanta Issued All Clear From Hurricane Michael, Could See Fall Weather
Although metro Atlanta has been issued an all clear after Michael, other areas are still bracing for and working to recover from the storm’s impact. In Panama City, Florida, Megan Williams, left, and roommate Kaylee O’Brian take belongings from their destroyed home after several trees fell on the house during the hurricane.
Gerald Herbert / Associated Press
Hurricane Michael has been downgraded to a tropical storm, and the center of the storm has moved into the Carolinas.
Kyle Thiem, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said metro Atlanta has been issued an all clear.
“For the rest of Thursday, we’re not actually going to see very much impact from tropical storm Michael now that it’s kicked off to the Northeast. We’ve had all of our flood watches and warnings canceled as well as the tropical storm and hurricane warnings canceled as well,” Thiem said.
Thiem said one impact though is that a cold front is expected to move in and bring fall weather to metro Atlanta. Temperatures could reach below 60 degrees for the first time since May 4, a record heat streak for metro Atlanta.
Matt Sena with the National Weather Service, said metro Atlanta drivers should be careful. There are pools of standing water on the roads from the rainfall Wednesday night.
“With all the rain, soils have gotten fairly wet, also need to be careful this morning on the way to work for standing water in some of the roads or for any trees or large branches that may have fallen across the roads, any downed power lines,” Sena said.
Sena said the area could continue to see wind gusts up to 20 mph today, but the sun is expected to appear around midday Thursday.
Patricia Atwell is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Peachtree City.
“We’ve probably seen the worst of it through the overnight hours, and we should see improving conditions through much of this afternoon,” Atwell said.
She said we can continue to see winds up to 15 mph Thursday and partly cloudy skies, but it should clear up by Friday.
The storm is responsible for two deaths so far, including an 11-year-old girl in southwest Georgia.
She was killed when a tree fell on her home in Seminole County.
Power Outages
Hundreds of thousands of Georgians, however, are still without power.
Georgia EMC, the state’s electric cooperatives, reports more than 200,000 were without power Thursday morning — mostly in southwest and Middle Georgia. Click here for the latest outage information.
Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric utility, reports about 2,700 of its customers are without power. Click here for the latest outage information from Georgia Power.
Georgia Power said it has activated more than 4,000 employees across Georgia and neighboring states to work on restoring electricity — though in some areas it could take several days to restore service.
More than two-thirds of the state — 110 of 159 counties in Georgia — remain under emergency declaration through next week.
Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to correct the first name of meteorologist Patricia Atwell.
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