National Weather Service determines that the damage in South Cobb was caused by a tornado

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Screenshot of a map of the western portion of the City of Mableton, including Blair's Bridge RoadScreenshot from Open Street Maps

Posted By: Larry Felton Johnson January 15, 2023

Cobb County government announced on its social media that the National Weather Service determined a tornado caused the damage to dozens of houses in South Cobb last Thursday, January 12.

Here is how the county described the finding on its Facebook page:

“WEATHER SERVICE: Tornado hit Austell area

“A National Weather Service team toured the damage in the Ivy Log area of Austell following Thursday’s storm. They determined an EF1 tornado with 110 mph winds hit the area. The mile-and-a-half-long path started in Douglas County near the damaged warehouse in Lithia Springs and moved eastward into Cobb.

“Fifty homes were damaged in the area, with 16 destroyed or significantly damaged. All the homeowners had insurance, and the Red Cross was working with other families on any immediate needs.

“There was damage across the county from the storm. Those who did not call 911 and have not been visited by damage teams should report their circumstances in our portal at https://arcg.is/nL448“

Background

Here is our previous story on the damage reprinted below:

Cobb Communications Director Ross Cavitt told the Courier via phone that the number of homes damaged in South Cobb has risen to 50, and 16 of those were damaged so significantly that they are uninhabitable.

One person suffered minor injuries during the storm, and another person had a cardiac issue during the course of the storm that is non-life-threatening.

Cavitt said the National Weather Service will make a determination about whether the damage was caused by a tornado or by a straight-line wind event.

A public information release yesterday stated that there were no active tornado warnings at the time of the storm.

The county reported Thursday afternoon that firefighters went street to street in the neighborhoods around Ivy Log Drive and that a warehouse on Oak Ridge Parkway had partially collapsed.

In addition to the damage in South Cobb, there were reports of damage from all over the county.

The storm damage in the county was the result of a line of fast-moving severe storms that passed through the county yesterday afternoon prompting the National Weather Service to issue a wind advisory.

911 calls began pouring in to Cobb emergency services at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.

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