Homes, businesses severely damaged in Austell, Lithia Springs
Suspected tornado damages business, homes in southern Cobb County
Areas of Austell and Lithonia Springs were hard-hit after a severe storm. While there was no tornado warning at the time, residents believe the damage may have been caused by just that. A National Weather Service survey team will try to determine the cause.
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - An Austell neighborhood took a big hit from Thursday’s severe storms.
Several homes were severely damaged or destroyed after trees fell on them.
"Just snapped in half, fell into my bedroom, my parents' bedroom, and our bathroom," said Bryan Varela.
Varela says the damage inside his home on Poplar Log Place in Austell is 'crazy' after a tree crashed down Thursday afternoon.
A video he captured from inside shows tree limbs poking through walls and in one room, the roof is gone.
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Just moments before the tree came down, he says, he was in his bedroom where part of it now sits.
"There's nothing that you can explain what it sounded like, but something that is similar is kind of like a loud firework going off close to you," Varela said.
About a mile away in Lithia Springs, a car on Oak Ridge Road had a power pole and a transformer fall on it as the intense storm moved through the area Thursday afternoon.
Douglas County deputies say the driver was taken to the hospital.
Nearby, a concrete block wall collapsed at an 18-wheeler part supply store. Employees were inside but were not injured.
"I was in disbelief," said Heaven Dunn. "We all walked back there to assess the damage; I could see outside. It was just crazy."
Varela is thankful he was not injured.
"It was scary, it was just the most craziest thing that ever happened to me," he said. "I have crazy things happen to me before, but this is just tops it."
Cobb County says nobody was seriously injured in the area.
The National Weather Service says surveyors will be on Saturday to determine if the damage was caused by a tornado or straight-line winds.