DawsonTimes.com

On Friday, April 10, 2009 at 6:07pm Dawson County, Georgia fell under a tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service.

Dawson County activated emergency sirens and Swift Reach notifications were issued for the county.  CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Director Richard Sims said, “Two-thirds of the county had answered the emergency phone notifications within nine minutes.”  Within nine and one-half minutes the first cycle of calls was complete with the system approaching 1500 calls per minute.
 
“The severe storm caused moderate damage in the northwest portion of the county beginning in the Wildcat community of Big Canoe to New Hope Road in a path one and one-half miles wide and five miles long,” said Dawson County Emergency Management Director Billy Thurmond.  “Hundreds of trees were downed from the storm along with numerous power lines,” Thurmond said.

Wall cloud photographed Friday evening by Dawson County Emergency Services Captain Jason Dooley

Dawson County remained under the tornado warning for two hours during which time 35 roads were closed due to downed trees and power lines.  Roads were re-opened and passable by 2am Saturday.

Seven homes were damaged during the storm including a home on Bearden Road which incurred significant damage.  A female occupant was initially entrapped in the structure but was able to get out of the home under her own power.

According to Director Thurmond, Dawson County Emergency Services responded to two storm-related medical calls including a patient whose shoulder was struck by a tree limb and a member of BCERT (Big Canoe Emergency Response Team) who experienced a heart attack while helping cut fallen trees in the Big Canoe area.

Power was restored to all homes in the area by 5:00 pm on Sunday.  The National Weather Service has not officially confirmed a tornado in Dawson County.