One of several large trees downed during a storm on Saturday afternoon is seen Sunday near the Wilder Tower in the Chickamauga National Military Park. The tower was undamaged and open to the public on Sunday.Thousands of households in North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee still were without power Sunday night after a fast-moving thunderstorm tore through the region Saturday afternoon.
“My wife and I went on a dinner date and came back to a big surprise,” said Wiley Brown, a Chickamauga, Ga., resident whose home and truck were in the way when a 35-year-old hackberry tree in his neighbor’s yard fell, snapping power and telephone lines.
The North Georgia Electric Membership Cooperative reported 9,000 homes were without power Sunday night, a significant decrease from 20,000 the day before.
At least 30 power poles were broken during the storm by falling tree limbs, and officials say some outages may last till Tuesday.
Twenty crews, including those from NGEMC, are working to restore power to affected areas.