Hurricane Michael: Storm Brings Down Trees In Cherokee County

WOODSTOCK, GA — Cherokee County, metro Atlanta and north Georgia residents escaped the brunt of Hurricane Michael, as the storm's path kept the bulk of the damage contained in the middle and southwestern areas of the state. However, there was some recorded damage in parts of Cherokee.

According to the Cherokee County EMA, a car accident brought down a power pole Wednesday evening along Birmingham Highway at Ga. 372 in the southeastern portion of the county. That intersection reopened around 7 a.m. Thursday, the Sheriff's Office added.

A tree also fell across Epperson Road near Scott Road, an event that also brought power lines down across the roadway east of Canton. Other roads impacted by toppled trees, according to CSO, include: ‪Upper Bethany Road at Soap Creek Road north of Canton, which is now open; and Old Mill Road off Ga. 20 in the eastern part of the county.

CSO said on its Facebook page that one of its lieutenants used a hand-held saw to remove trees and limbs from Old Mill Road so a school bus driver could continue the mission of collecting children for school.

In Woodstock, the Noonday Creek and Towne Lake Pass trails are currently closed due to flooding, said Parks and Recreation Director Preston Pooser.

As of 9 a.m. Poweroutage.us notes there are about 128 customers without power in Cherokee County. Residents in the county are asked to continue with their normal routines with caution, as wind gusts will be part of Thursday's forecast.

Michael now stands as a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph, and is about 40 miles northwest of Columbia, the National Hurricane Center states. The story will continue to trek across central South Carolina this morning, and enter portions of central and eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia this afternoon and this evening, then over the Atlantic Ocean by late tonight or early Friday.

"Little change in strength is expected today, with the strongest winds primarily spreading northward along the coast of the Carolinas," NHC added. "Michael is forecast to intensify as it becomes a post-tropical low over the Atlantic late tonight or early Friday. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 160 miles (260 km) mainly over water to the southeast of the center."

The storm, which has left hundreds of thousands of people without power, is also responsible for the death of a 11-year-old girl in the southwest corner of the state. The child when debris fell onto her family's trailer in Seminole County, which is located on the Georgia-Alabama-Florida border, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

MORE:

• Hurricane Michael Hits GA: Child Killed; 344K Without Power
• President Trump May Visit Hurricane Michael-Ravaged Georgia
• Delta Waives Baggage Fees, Prepares For Hurricane Michael

Images via Cherokee Sheriff's Office