PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
645 PM EST SUN NOV 17 2002

...PRELIMINARY DAMAGE REPORT ON TORNADO AND WIND DAMAGE IN NORTH AND 
CENTRAL GEORGIA...
   
CHEROKEE...PICKENS...AND DAWSON COUNTIES:  A 22-MILE LONG PATH OF 
DAMAGE BEGINNING AT BEASLEY GAP IN NORTHWEST CHEROKEE COUNTY...TO 
REFUGE ROAD IN PICKENS COUNTY...TO JUST NORTH OF THE CITY OF 
TATE...THEN CONTINUING ON TO MARBLEHILL...AND THEN TO JUST EAST OF 
BIG CANOE...INTO DAWSON COUNTY.  MUCH OF THE DAMAGE IN PICKENS 
COUNTY PARALLELED GEORGIA HIGHWAY 108 NEAR TATE AND THEN ALONG 
GEORGIA HIGHWAY 53 FROM TATE EASTWARD. PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS ARE 
THAT MUCH OF THE DAMAGE ALONG THE PATH WAS CAUSED BY STRAIGHT LINE 
WINDS WITH SPEEDS UP TO 70 MPH...BUT THERE WAS DEFINITE INDICATION 
OF A MULTI-SEGMENTED TORNADO WITHIN THE DAMAGE PATH...POSSIBLY UP TO 
100-YARDS WIDE AT SOME POINTS. DAMAGE ATTRIBUTED TO TORNADIC 
ACTIVITY VARIED. BUT DAMAGE CONSISTENT WITH F2 TORNADOES WAS NOTED 
AT TWO LOCATIONS. ONE WAS IN CHEROKEE COUNTY ON SALACOA ROAD NEAR 
BEASLEY GAP. THE OTHER WAS IN PICKENS COUNTY NEAR TATE. F2 TORNADOES 
HAVE WINDS FROM 113 TO 157 MPH. THERE WERE 10 MINOR INJURIES 
REPORTED IN PICKENS COUNTY...ALL TREATED AND RELEASED FROM LOCAL 
HOSPITALS...WITH 3 INJURIES REPORTED FROM DAWSON COUNTY.  ACCORDING 
TO THE PICKENS COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR...THERE WERE 142 
STRUCTURES PARTIALLY DAMAGED...26 STRUCTURES COMPLETELY 
DESTROYED...AND 2 BUSINESSES DESTROYED.

BARTOW COUNTY: A STORM DAMAGE SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED BY NATIONAL 
WEATHER SERVICE AND BARTOW COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL ON 
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 13TH.  STORM DAMAGE WAS REPORTED ALONG SEVERAL 
AREAS FROM BARNSLEY GARDENS ROAD...EASTWARD TO JUST SOUTH OF HALLS 
STATION...TO PLEASANT VALLEY ROAD...TO JUST EAST OF INTERSTATE 75 ON 
CROWE SPRING ROAD.  PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS ARE THAT THE 18-MILE 
WEST-TO-EAST ORIENTED PATH OF SCATTERED STORM DAMAGE WAS PRODUCED 
BY BOTH STRAIGHT LINE WINDS WITH SPEEDS BETWEEN 80 AND 100 MPH IN 
ADDITION TO EVIDENCE OF A MULTI-SEGMENTED TORNADO WITHIN THE DAMAGE 
PATH.  TORNADIC DAMAGE OF F2 INTENSITY ON THE FUJITA SCALE WAS 
EVIDENT IN AN ISOLATED AREA WITHIN THE DAMAGE PATH ON CLEAR CREEK 
ROAD.  ESTIMATED ASPECT RATIO OF THIS TORNADIC DAMAGE WAS 100 YARDS 
WIDE WITH PATH LENGTH OF 500 YARDS.  TORNADIC DAMAGE OF F1 INTENSITY 
ON THE FUJITA SCALE WAS EVIDENT ALONG A SECONDARY SEGMENT OF THE 
DAMAGE PATH AT THE INTERSECTION OF CEDAR CREEK ROAD AND HAZEL ROAD.  
ESTIMATED ASPECT RATIO OF THIS TORNADIC DAMAGE WAS 100 YARDS WIDE 
WITH PATH LENGTH OF 500 YARDS.  BARTOW COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 
REPORTED AN ESTIMATED TOTAL STORM DAMAGE OF 1.5 TO 1.8 MILLION 
DOLLARS.  STORM DAMAGE CONSISTED OF FIVE RESIDENTIAL HOMES WITH 
MAJOR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE...12 TO 15 RESIDENTIAL HOMES WITH MINOR 
STRUCTURAL DAMAGE...7 CHICKEN HOUSES...IN ADDITION TO SEVERAL DOWNED 
TREES AND POWER LINES.

MONROE AND BIBB COUNTIES:  AN ISOLATED SUPERCELL TYPE THUNDERSTORM 
MOVED ALONG THE BIBB/MONROE COUNTY LINE AROUND 530 PM SUNDAY 
EVENING. NUMEROUS TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN IN THIS VICINITY...PRIMARILY 
IN THE SLEEPY CREEK SUBDIVISION JUST NORTH OF THE BIBB COUNTY LINE 
IN EXTREME SOUTHERN MONROE COUNTY. TREES WERE BROKEN OFF OR UPROOTED 
AND DAMAGE TO HOMES WAS LIMITED TO TREES BEING BLOWN ONTO SOME HOMES 
AND SHINGLES BEING PEELED OFF. MUCH OF THE DAMAGE WAS FOCUSED IN THE 
RIVERSIDE DRIVE...BASS ROAD...AND WESLEYAN ROAD AREAS OF SOUTHERN 
MONROE AND NORTHERN BIBB COUNTIES. A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM 
SURVEY CREW HAS MADE A PRELIMINARY CONCLUSION THAT THIS WAS CAUSED 
BY A SHORT-LIVED F0 TORNADO. THE TORNADO WAS ESTIMATED TO HAVE A 
PATH OF 1/2 TO 3/4 OF A MILE...WITH A WIDTH OF 1/4 MILE OR LESS. 
WINDS IN AN F0 TORNADO ARE 73 MPH OR LESS.

JONES COUNTY:  THE SAME THUNDERSTORM THAT AFFECTED NORTHERN BIBB AND 
SOUTHERN MONROE COUNTIES MOVED RAPIDLY EAST INTO JONES COUNTY. 
PRELIMINARY REPORTS INDICATE THAT DAMAGE WAS CONFINED MAINLY TO A 
LOGGING INDUSTRY BETWEEN GRAY AND HADDOCK IN EASTERN JONES COUNTY. 
THE JONES COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR AND THE NATIONAL 
WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY CREW HAVE CONCLUDED THAT THIS DAMAGE 
WAS NOT CAUSED BY A TORNADO.

$$

ROTHFUSZ/GOODEN/NOEL/BEASLEY/MURPHY/WOODS/DOBUR/HATCHER