ATLANTA - The National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings as severe storms crossed Georgia early Sunday evening.
At least two storms were moving northeast at roughly 65 mph from an area near Barnesville and 60 miles from the Forsyth area, forecasters said. One of the storms had dissipated as of roughly 5:15 p.m. while the second continued in the Jasper, Walton, Newton and Morgan county areas.
An initial tornado warning Sunday afternoon covered an area near Columbus but the storm gradually moved northeast from there, prompting tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings in other areas as it moved east.
The National Weather Service reported that heavy rain and high wind had knocked down trees and power lines in several areas of west and central Georgia. Forecasters urged residents in several central Georgia counties to take cover in interior rooms on the lower levels of homes and buildings, and to avoid looking for shelter beneath highway overpasses.
The tornado warning came as a system of thunderstorms pelted Georgia with heavy rain and high wind. Georgia Power's outage map shows that more than 12,200 customers had lost service throughout the state. The Columbus, Macon and Rome areas had relatively high concentrations of outages early Sunday evening.