Strong storms cause problems in Hall Co., other parts of N. Ga.

Strong storms overnight and this morning caused problems in parts of Hall County and elsewhere in north Georgia. <br /> <br /> "We had a busy morning with trees and limbs down, power outages, and a couple of lightning strikes to (residences)," Hall County Fire Chief David Kimbrell said. Kimbrell added that the county appears to have been spared any significant damage.<br /> <br /> "We checked the two houses and found no fire and advised the homeowners to have an electrician double check their wiring system. Power outages and a couple of limbs caused some additional school traffic delays but everyone worked good (on the first day of school for county students) to get the boys and girls into school safe - maybe a little damp."<br /> <br /> Hall County School System spokesman Gordon Higgins says he has not received any reports of problems in getting students to class.<br /> <br /> "I spoke with Jewel Armour, our Executive Director of Transportation, who reported no issues other than slowness caused by the early morning rain."<br /> <br /> At McEver Elementary School, which was affected by a power outage that lasted for about 30 minutes starting around 7:00, students ate breakfast by the morning light and flashlights in the cafeteria, according to principal Catherine Rosa. <br /> <br /> "By 8:00, all students were in their classrooms working away," she added. "Despite the crazy events of this morning, we are looking forward to another great year at McEver Arts."<br /> <br /> Jackson EMC spokeswoman Bonnie Jones said the outage occurred just before 7 a.m. and lasted 42 minutes. She said 2,217 customers were affected. <br /> <br /> Meanwhile, a strong storm that rolled through metro Atlanta brought down trees, flooded streets and caused power outages for thousands of residents.<br /> <br /> WSB-TV reports that nearly 22,000 people were without electricity Thursday night throughout Georgia.<br /> <br /> In Atlanta, falling trees damaged a dozen cars in one neighborhood. Utility poles were also snapped.<br /> <br /> A falling tree slammed into an apartment building in Norcross, damaging four homes. Firefighters said 15 people were displaced. No injuries were reported.<br /> <br /> (The Associated Press contributed to this story.)

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