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Photo of Wood Creek Road just down from Shady Lane. Not far from the Owens' property. Photo courtesy of Josh Conwell.
Photo of River Road last night. Photo courtesy of Josh Holcombe. More photos below the article.
Photo of Woodcreek Road. Photo courtesy of Donna and David Owens. More photos below the article.
By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - Pike County Times is keeping an eye on the weather conditions in our county. Here is an update of the past couple of days. [Note from the Editor: I am updating again today (1.17.20) to add the National Weather Service final report. It will be at the very bottom of the page under the Owen's pictures.]
According to E-911 Director Wendy Pippins, as of yesterday, there were 6 trees down that have since been removed. There was a telephone line down as well. One roadway was washed and is currently closed. That is West Milner and Bottoms Road.
The rain kept coming last night. As for this morning, there were three more trees down that have since been removed. Hunter Road, Shady Lane, and Sandefur Roads are all open again. That makes 9 trees blocking county roads that have been removed by our Public Works Department.
Pike County Times was on one of the Pike discussion Facebook pages this morning and found pictures of a discussion of winds that had knocked down trees. Donna Owen wrote, “We had a small tornado or straight line winds last night and lost several BIG trees right on our driveway. Is there anyone out there with heavy equipment in this area that can come out and help us move this mess? …” Pike County Times contacted Donna by Facebook and then by phone to find out more about what happened.
Donna said that a storm came over around 11:30 p.m. or midnight last night out on Woodcreek Road in Williamson. She said it sounded horrible and that it was near the road down her long driveway rather than by her house. There was thunder, lightning, and wind that “blew up out of no where.”
She took pictures of the scene of large trees blown completely over. She said that a power pole was “splintered” in one area of her driveway. Donna praised Southern Rivers for their work overnight. “A big shout out to the power company!! Those guys are awesome!! They were out here at 3 am, had 2 new power poles, the road cleared and the power back on by 6 am!”
All of these pictures below the article are courtesy of David and Donna Owen. David is pictured with his lab in front of some downed trees. Photos have been submitted to the National Weather Service through EMA Director Jimmy Totten who does a fantastic job of watching the weather and keep us apprised of dangerous weather on Facebook. Director Totten will advise on what the NWS says about the pictures and radar in that area during the time that the storm came through.
Pike County Times will continue to monitor storm damage and flooding in our area. If you see a flooded road, turn around and call 911 to alert authorities of the danger. From there 911 and Public Works can work together to block off the road and alert citizens of the danger. If you see a tree in the road, same goes with calling 911.
Thank you to our 911 operators, emergency personnel including deputies, and Public Works personnel for your hard work in this dreary weather!
UPDATE 1.16.20: EMA Director Jim Totten just updated Pike County Times on this storm by email after meeting with the National Weather Service (NWS). He advised as follows: "I just met with NWS from Peachtree City about the storm damage from Monday night storms. There is a small area around Woodcreek Road and Shady Lane that appears to have had an EF-0 tornado come through. EF-0 has estimated wind speeds of around 85mph. The damage was only some trees and was very isolated." He also said that the NWS is on the way to Spalding County where this storm tracked into and left some damage to determine if that was also a tornado.
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If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!
Photo courtesy of the National Weather Service.
By Editor Becky Watts
PEACHTREE CITY - Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Peachtree City GA
330 PM EST Thu Jan 16 2020
...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR JANUARY 13-14 2020 TORNADO EVENT...
Pike County Tornado...
Rating: EF-0
Estimated Peak Wind: 80 mph
Path Length /statute/: 1.5 miles
Path Width /maximum/: 100 yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0
Start Date: Jan 13 2020
Start Time: 1151 PM EST
Start Location: 3.1 miles SW of Williamson
Start Lat/Lon: 33.1469 / -84.3921
End Date: Jan 13 2020
End Time: 1153 PM EST
End Location: 1.7 miles SW of Williamson
End Lat/Lon: 33.1598 / -84.3722
Storm Summary:
A line of thunderstorms produced two brief tornadoes around midnight on Monday night on January 13 2020.
The first tornado began near the 500 block of Wood Creek Rd west of Reidsboro Rd southwest of Williamson in northern Pike County. Several large trees were snapped or uprooted inter- mittently along a path following Reidsboro Rd, including the Eagles Landing sub-division, where one of the homes had very minor roof damage. The tornado lifted just southwest of Pike County Fire Station number 6 just west of Williamson-Zebulon Rd.
Thank you to First Bank of Pike for sponsoring Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!
If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!