Thunderstorms topple trees, spark mass outages across North and Middle Georgia with more bad weather looming
Storms rolled into Georgia like an unwanted guest on Saturday, leaving behind a mess that stretched from the heart of Atlanta to the Tennessee border. Over 124,000 people lost power, hundreds of trees came crashing down, and the skies just wouldn’t let up.
Thunderstorm warnings blared across phones. Power lines snapped. Entire blocks went dark. In Cobb County alone, more than 26,000 homes and businesses were suddenly offline. And as the state braced for more incoming weather, one message rang clear: It’s not over yet.
Cobb County blacked out, crews scramble to restore power
By 7:14 PM Saturday, Georgia Power was reporting over 1,200 separate outages. The hardest hit? Cobb County. Nearly 27,000 outages and counting, all happening in a matter of hours. Fulton and Dekalb weren’t far behind, clocking more than 16,000 each.
It happened fast. One moment it was just another muggy summer afternoon — the next, utility poles were snapping and transformers were lighting up the skies.
“Severe weather, including heavy rain and lightning, are passing through our state downing trees and power lines,” said Georgia Power in a statement.
And just like that, thousands were in the dark. Literally.
Thunderstorm watch in place till 9 PM, more damage feared
The National Weather Service wasn’t sugarcoating things. A severe thunderstorm watch was issued across all of north Georgia and the greater Atlanta metro. It’ll stay in effect until at least 9 PM.
This isn’t just a passing cloudburst.
Weather models predict isolated cells developing well into the night. That means:
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More high winds that can snap aging limbs
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Saturated soil making trees more likely to fall
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Power crews having to dodge lightning while working
And it’s not just Georgia feeling the heat. Central and eastern Alabama, plus stretches of Tennessee, have also been caught in the system’s path. In some places, it feels like every other hour brings a fresh round of booming thunder.
One sentence: people are tired, soaked, and nervously eyeing the sky.
Outage breakdown: where lights went out the most
That’s not even the whole picture. In middle Georgia, Bibb and Houston counties also saw scattered outages, although nowhere near the metro numbers.
Meanwhile, residents took to social media sharing clips of trees blocking driveways, trampoline frames wrapped around telephone poles, and flooded intersections in Decatur and Marietta.
Trees down, roads blocked, one wrong move could be fatal
For emergency responders, this wasn’t just a power outage situation. Downed trees had blocked several major roads by Saturday afternoon. Some reports came in about cars crushed beneath limbs — luckily, most were parked.
One fatality was reported elsewhere in the state, in Banks County, where a tree fell on a moving vehicle. That tragic event only reinforced how quickly things can go wrong.
There’s a reason officials keep warning people not to go out during these storms. You can’t dodge a falling tree you don’t see coming.
A single sentence here to say: It’s dangerous out there.
Georgia Power: “We’re working as fast as we can”
Utility companies were already prepping for the weekend chaos, but the scale of damage still caught many off guard.
Georgia Power and local EMCs deployed hundreds of linemen by mid-afternoon. But with active lightning and heavy rain in some areas, restoration work had to pause in intervals.
In their public update, Georgia Power urged customers to avoid downed lines and stay indoors if possible. “We remind customers to stay safe as we work to restore power safely and as quickly as possible.”
Still, some folks may be waiting well into Sunday — or even Monday — for full restoration, especially in hard-hit neighborhoods with multiple pole failures.
Here’s a quick guide for affected residents:
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Don’t touch or approach any wire — even if it looks harmless.
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Use flashlights instead of candles to prevent fire risk.
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Report new outages directly on the Georgia Power app or website.
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Check on elderly neighbors who may not have backup power sources.
Weather outlook: still bumpy ahead
Just because Saturday was bad doesn’t mean Sunday will be better.
Forecasts are holding steady for another wave of thunderstorms sweeping across the South through late Sunday night. The highest risk areas include southwest Oklahoma and northern Texas, but North Georgia remains under watch.
Strong winds, isolated hail, and short-lived tornadoes aren’t out of the question. The good news? Monday may bring slightly calmer skies.
But after a weekend like this, no one’s feeling too confident.
One sentence here again: The ground’s soaked, the trees are weak, and it won’t take much for round two.
