EF-3 tornado confirmed in Georgia’s Troup County

WEST POINT, Ga. - Georgia officials confirmed Monday that at EF-3 tornado touched down over the weekend in Troup County.

The storm early Sunday injured multiple people, according to Georgia officials. No fatalities were reported.

“I just got a brief in and can confirm that this was an EF3 tornado with 140-150 mph winds that dropped down to an EF2 in other parts of Troup County,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday at a news conference as he toured the site of the storm damage.

He said the state has “a tremendous amount of resources” on the ground.

Kemp thanked all the government agencies involved, as well as the Red Cross, local pastors, local commissioners, local elected officials, police officials and all emergency crews that assisted.

“We have made all of the necessary state resources available to assist with the response and recovery,” he added.

Kemp confirmed about 25-30 homes were destroyed.

“Approximately 100 others were damaged,” Kemp said. “This situation is continuing to evolve because of heavy rains today. “We’re going to continue working to clear roads then we’re going to come back to do more assessments. Our main priority is clearing roads for the power companies.”

Kemp said Highway 29 has been closed in Troup County to non-emergency vehicles.

“Due to heavy rainfall, we’re having issues with the temporary dam in Spalding County. All of our engineers and state officials are responding,” Kemp said.

The roads in the area of Heads Creek Reservoir in Spalding County are being closed and residents are being evacuated and taken to a safe location due to flooding, according to the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office.

Initial reports from the National Weather Service of Atlanta indicated that the dam had failed, but officials from the organization and Spalding County later clarified that the dam is intact, but failure is believed to be imminent.

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