10 tornadoes touch down across Georgia on Thursday, National Weather Service says

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Additional surveys were completed of the long track tornado on Thursday bringing the total number to 10, says the National Weather Service.

Out of the 10 tornadoes 9 of them were in the metro surrounding area. The survey also includes 32 injuries and 2 deaths reported at this time.

NWS has now confirmed 4 tornadoes were on the ground at the same time on Griffin.

The final tornado count is still being determined and an additional survey will be released in the coming days.

ORIGINAL STORY

The NWS has confirmed there were 3 tornadoes on the ground at the same time in Spalding County on Thursday during the severe storms that left significant damage to homes, businesses, trees and vehicles.

At this time, there were a total of 7 tornadoes confirmed throughout north and central Georgia. The final tornado count is still being determined by the National Weather Service.

Southwest Spalding and northwestern Pike counties reportedly got hit with one of the largest tornadoes, experiencing two EF1s, two EF2s, and one EF3 tornado says Spalding officials.

The tornado that hit Spalding County can be traced back west to Alabama’s larger mesocyclone tornado. The winds reached a peak of 150 mph, completely destroying several homes along Kendall Drive.

One homeowner had their bathtub and all plumbing fixtures torn away from the home, tossing everything into the woods. The owner walked away with no injuries and reportedly helped nearby neighbors.

As the winds reach up to 130 mph, the tornado passed by the UGA Griffin campus towards businesses hitting the roof of a Hobby Lobby and causing severe damage to the roof and structural walls on the northeast side of the building.

Troup County and northeastern Chambers County were hit with an EF2 tornado, leaving a trail of damage to pine trees and completely damaging a manufactured home blowing it downstream near county road 278.

Along this same path, a couple of homes had severe shingle damage, siding damage, and porches ripped and blown off their footings.

A supercell was tracked in Chambers County with a 120 mph peak wind speed, causing significant damage along I-85 completely destroying a large warehouse with metal bolt anchors.

The longer-tracked tornado that went through Griffin on Kendall Drive caused the most significant damage.

Most of the damage from these tornadoes was snapping and the uprooting of healthy pine trees, ripping off roofs of homes and severe structural damage.

The NWS survey included reports of damage to Troup, Cobb, Meriwether, Spalding, Henry, Warren, McDuffie and Butts County.

In order to determine the maximum width of the tornado, additional data will be examined by NWS.

Survey information is still being compiled and is expected to be released in the coming days.

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