Historic Microburst Storm is small but dangerous

7/1/2021 (Permalink)

Storm ravages Hart County during the night of April 6, 2017. By Michael Isom Staff writer. Highly trained crews from SERVPRO of The Mountains.

This storm covered about 2 miles, but it was extremely destructive as it was concentrated into a straight-line wind shear that took out trees, power poles, and structures like a bomb had been dropped.

Storm ravages Hart County during the night of April 6, 2017.  By Michael Isom Staff writer

A line of severe storms rumbled through Hart County just after midnight last Thursday causing county-wide damage and power outages.

“The worst storm damage was out there by Cateechee (Golf Club) or out there on Bowman Highway next to the Ag Center,” said Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland The sheriff’s department started getting phone calls from Hart County residents when the storm began.

James Fulghum lives on Bowman Highway near the Agriscience Center and was awoken by the storm. “I don’t get scared that often, but I have to admit that really scared me,” said Fulghum.

 Lynne Adams had a similar experience at her Ross Road home. “I have lived in this house nearly 30 years, and haven’t, until now, heard a hailstorm like this here,” she said. “I seriously thought the windows might break.”

According to Ed Hoy, supervisor of system operations with Hart EMC, over 1,500 members were without power at the height of the storm.

The biggest concentration of incidents were reported in the Liberty Hill and Sardis areas. “Enough praise cannot be given to the (Hart County) Fire Department and the volunteers and the (Hart County) Road Department. They were actually the hands-on chain saws, tractors, and whatever was needed to get the job done,” Cleveland said. “It was just amazing the amount of huge trees in the road. We aren’t talking about one tree. We are talking about multiple trees.”

Excerpts from the Hartwell Sun Newspaper, April 13^th, 2017

Thankfully, no one was hurt from the storm!

However, hundreds of trees were knocked down and as many homes and businesses were damaged.

Microburst storms like these have been more frequent lately and their damage can be severe.  

Highly trained crews from SERVPRO of Tri-County & SERVPRO of the Mountains were on the scene early that morning helping those in need with water removal, debris cleanup and property restoration.