The National Weather Service confirmed there was a brief spin-up tornado by Oglethorpe Feed and Hardware Supply on Friday, according to the Oglethorpe County Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
Douglas Spencer, head of the EMA, said the windstorm didn’t meet the specific wind or damage thresholds to receive an official rating on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale.
A similar storm path resulted in a confirmed EF0 tornado in Elbert County.
Danny Sanders, whose family owns Oglethorpe Feed and Hardware Supply, said the tornado was caught on the store’s security camera after closing. He added the storm didn’t cause any damage.
“It looked more like a dust devil kind of thing, just a whirlwind that kind of started up,” Sanders said.
The small tornadoes were part of a series of storms and heavy rain that pelted Oglethorpe County and Northeast Georgia over the weekend and through Tuesday, helping ease drought-like conditions, but also causing damage.
Heavy rains on Sunday and Monday caused flooding throughout the county, even washing out part of Emerald Green Drive near Sandy Cross, keeping about 30 residents stuck on one side of the dead-end road.
Public works crews were at the scene Tuesday and repaired the road by that afternoon.
He added the series of popup storms have been difficult to predict. The storms are driven by an unusual air mass pulling moisture from the Gulf and the Atlantic.
It was expected to continue throughout the week.
“This looks like a Picasso painting,” Spencer said. “There’s not a smooth line of rain. There’s places that got a lot and there’s places that got very little.”
The county experienced significant precipitation throughout the weekend, with an overall county average of 1.53 inches through May 24, according to the Oglethorpe County Rainfall Reporting Network.
The Sandy Cross area recorded the highest number in the county with 2.52 inches of rain. Other high numbers include Smithonia with 1.73 inches and Palmetto with 1.71 inches.
Lexington’s Thomas Callaway posted on Facebook that 6 inches fell in about 90 minutes on Bisson Woods Road on Monday, when the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Oglethorpe and Madison counties.
Athens received 1.8 inches of rain during the same period, which is almost double its typical weekly average of 0.92 inches.
Despite the intense rainfall and flooding from the last few days, the county still remains in an extreme drought with a 4-inch deficit for the month.
Spencer said intense storms cause flash flooding because the ground is too dry and the rain can’t soak into the soil.
The summer is predicted to be drier, Spencer said. He emphasized the importance of rain, especially for the county’s agricultural production, livestock and lake levels.
“I hate the storms, but we’re in an extreme drought. I’ll take some rain,” Spencer said. “Maybe not the storm, but I mean, can we compromise?”