WACN 21 illustration of Atlanta storm clouds
Local desks reported overnight storms early Aug. 18 that downed trees and cut power across parts of metro Atlanta, with a peak near 10,000 customers out. — WACN 21 Illustration

Local · Weather

Overnight storms knock out power to thousands; Browns Mill among hardest-hit spots

Atlanta News First and WSB-TV: late-night storms moved through metro Atlanta early Tuesday, downing trees and power lines. Outages peaked near 10,000 customers before falling to hundreds by dawn as Georgia Power crews worked.

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ATLANTA — Overnight storms did more than rattle windows. They left crews chasing trees, lines, and dark neighborhoods into the Tuesday commute window.

Atlanta News First reported that thousands of people were without power early Tuesday after powerful storms passed through metro Atlanta overnight. WSB-TV framed the same event as late-night storms that moved through and left power crews working to restore service for hundreds across the metro by early morning.

Where the damage concentrated

ANF said the storms downed trees and took power lines with them in a Fulton County neighborhood. On Browns Mill Road and Adelle Street SE, several power lines were down because of a snapped tree.

WSB’s Steve Gehlbach package similarly flagged trees blocking several roads around Atlanta on Tuesday morning and identified one of the largest outages along Browns Mill Road in southeast Atlanta, noting it could be hours before power returned and the road reopened.

Downed trees were reported in several other areas around metro Atlanta, ANF added, without claiming a single metro-wide severe outbreak.

How big the outage footprint got

ANF’s outage math is the cleanest single snapshot in the early packages:

  • Peak: about 10,000 customers without power in the wee hours.
  • Near 6 a.m.: closer to 600 people still in the dark as Georgia Power crews continued work.

WSB’s earlier 4:30 a.m. check of utility maps put Georgia Power’s largest county footprint in Fulton, with around 600 customers out there, and said Georgia EMC’s outage map showed at least 2,100 customers without power in metro Atlanta plus another 1,400 in its north and northeast counties. Those utility-map reads are time-stamped morning snapshots, not a final restoration ledger.

What this is — and is not

This is a post-storm restoration story: trees, lines, blocked roads, and a four-digit peak outage count that was already shrinking by breakfast. It is not a declared tornado outbreak package, and neither local desk claimed fatalities in these early reports.

Anyone still dark should treat downed lines as live until a utility says otherwise, report hazards through normal Georgia Power / EMC channels, and expect neighborhood-level restoration to lag arterial feeders.

Primary sources: Atlanta News First — overnight storms and outages; WSB-TV — late-night storms, trees, power.