No injuries reported in overnight storm

White County, like much of Georgia, endured severe storms late Sunday night and early Monday morning. Fortunately, no injuries reported had been reported as of Monday morning.

The county did experience some damaging winds, heavy rain and lightning, said White County Public Safety Director David Murphy. A residence on Goat Neck Road was destroyed by a fire reportedly caused by a lightning strike.

According to Murphy, at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 12, White County Station 2 fire units responded to the residential fire at Goat Neck Road. Cleveland firefighters and Lee Arrendale Correction Institute (L.A.C.I.) provided automatic aid. When firefighters arrived, they discovered that the 2,000 square foot home was fully involved and started a defensive attack to extinguish the flames.

The residents said they heard a loud crack of lightning, and a few moments later smelled smoke, Murphy said. They followed the smell to the basement, where they found the fire. The residents attempted to extinguish the flames, but realized it was more than they could handle.

Firefighters were on the scene for three hours. There were no injuries reported and the Red Cross was called to assist the family, Murphy said. Firefighters responded to the location again on Monday, April 13, due to a rekindle and were at the location for two hours. There were no injuries reported.

It was also reported that there were several trees and power lines down, along with traffic lights out. There were reports of lines down at Pete's Park Road in Helen and a tree on power lines with a fire at Old Nacoochee Road. 

Helen Police Department personnel advised of flooding on South Main Street in Helen near the Chevron gas station. City of Cleveland personnel also advised that a majority of the city lost power around 2:45 a.m. 

During the storm, White County E911 lost power several times and had to switch to a generator, though it did not affect communication abilities, according to Murphy. A situational report stated that White County communications lost their primary radio system due to a fiber connection failure and switched to a back-up system. The White County Detention Center also lost power and had to switch to a generator. Both E911 and the detention center had issues with the generators, and the contractor has been notified.

There were power outages throughout the county, with Georgia Power reporting 130 and Habersham EMC reporting 431. Both electric providers remind the public to stay away from downed power lines, as well as cable TV wires touching a power line, and treat each one as if it is energized. You should also never pull tree limbs off power lines yourself or go into areas with debris or downed trees as power lines may be covered up by these.

Outages can be reported to HEMC by calling 1-800-640-6812 and to Georgia Power at 1-888-891-0938.

A tornado watch was issued for White County for several hours, along with a severe thunderstorm warning. 

In response to the storm, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency.