Severe Weather Blows Through

A series of thunderstorms blew through the Lilburn area Wednesday, bringing with it high winds, heavy rain and frequent lightning, and keeping emergency personnel on their toes.

The storms, some of which contained winds up to 45 mph and dime-sized hail, according to the National Weather Service, moved through Gwinnett just before 7 p.m. At least two more lines of  rainstorms moved through by midnight.

The worst part seemed to be the first wave, which kept Gwinnett firefighters on the go, according to Gwinnett Fire spokesman Capt. Tommy Rutledge.

Rutledge said between 6:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., fire crews responded to 124 incidents ranging from vehicle injury accidents, live wires down, fires (possibly from lightning strikes), trees downed on houses, woods fires, and alarm-activated calls.

"Just to note, [fire crews] normally run 200 to 250 incidents in a 24-hour period," Rutledge said in a media release. "That shows how busy we actually were due to the storm."

In Lilburn, power was out in the Main Street area of Lilburn when a large tree knocked over powerlines in front of just before 7 p.m.. Main Street in front of the church was closed for most of the evening.

A tree fell on the garage of a house on the 1000 block of Saw Grass Court in Lilburn; there were no injuries.

The Lilburn Downtown Development Authority meeting at the was quickly wrapped up in a darkened conference room after the power went out around 6:45 p.m.

Later, a planning meeting held by SafetySmart Lilburn for its August National Night Out event has held captive under the pavilion at until almost 8. Heavy rain echoed off the metal roof as the participants — including Lilburn Mayor Diana Preston and Police Chief Bruce Hedley — had to shout above the racket to discuss their plans.

Rutledge said the fire department activated its emergency operations plan at its "War Room" center at Fire Headquarters.

He said there were 535 calls per hour coming in to the 911 Center at the height of the storm.

The most significant incidents, according to Rutledge, a fire possibly set by lightning that destroyed two units on Plantation Trace Drive, and trees falling on homes on the 2800 Cardinal Lake Drive in Duluth,  3000 block of Dowry Drive in Lawrenceville and 3100 block of Sloping Terrace in Snellville. No injuries were reported.