UPSON COUNTY, Ga. — A powerful storm tore through Upson County overnight, knocking over 'thousands' of trees and demolishing buildings.
By mid-morning, the cleanup was well under way and from the sky, the full scope of the damage was clear.
Upson County Emergency Management Agency Director Martha McCarty estimated the damage stretched nearly 20 miles and destroyed at least 6 buildings and damaged roughly 50 more.
Somehow, she says, nobody was hurt.
"This is a blessed community, very blessed," she said. "It's just amazing we haven't had any injuries."
More than 100 first responders and volunteers from across Central Georgia converged on the destruction and began re-opening the nearly two dozen closed roads.
All of them, McCarty says, should be passable again by the end of the day. Though she notes, getting them fully cleared could take more time.
"It's bad It could have been a whole lot worse than it is," she said.
As for what caused the damage, the EMA director says it was a tornado and a strong one on the scale used to rate them.
"When it takes a whole house off its foundation and moves it about a football field and puts it down in the middle of Highway 74, I'm going to say it's at least a (EF) 3," she said.
It will be up to a team of federal damage surveyors from the National Weather Service to confirm that. McCarty says they were on site Monday afternoon.
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