<p>Stormy weather from Hurricane Dennis blasted up through the middle of Georgia Sunday and Monday, killing one man, forcing evacuations from hundreds of homes in the south part of the state and snarling traffic in metro Atlanta.</p><p>In Decatur, a man was killed in his sleep when a poplar tree 40 inches in diameter crashed into his bedroom. Edward Timmons, 35, died just after 3 a.m. His wife and two children were unharmed.</p><p>Fire officials had to cut away the tree to extract the man, who died instantly, said deputy fire chief Jerry Malone. "There wasn't anything we could do," Malone said. After rescue crews arrived at the home, two more trees in the rain-saturated yard also toppled over, although no one else was hurt.</p><p>Some parts of metro Atlanta got more than 6 inches of rain late Sunday and early Monday, said Eric Avila, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. A band of rain was expected to crawl up the center of Georgia throughout Monday, meaning more floods were likely.</p><p>"We could still see another few inches, it's just not moving," Avila said.</p><p>Flood warnings were in effect Monday for the entire Atlanta area, and most of north and central Georgia was under a flood watch.</p><p>About 400 homes in two south Georgia counties _ Worth and Colquitt _ were evacuated because of rising flood waters, said Kandice Weech of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. There were no immediate reports of injuries in those areas, and dams across the state were holding, Weech said, but dozens of emergency workers canvassed the state where already shelters were full of Gulf Coast residents fleeing the hurricane.</p><p>Many roads, creeks and rivers were overrun with water, slowing down drivers and flooding homes. In Clayton County, firefighters used boats to evacuate residents in at least two neighborhoods.</p><p>The waters mucked up morning rush hour in Atlanta, with all lanes of Interstate 285 around Atlanta closed at one point for high waters. On another major highway, Interstate 20, flooding closed a ramp near downtown Atlanta.</p><p>Farther north, a tractor-trailer carrying diesel fuel overturned on a two-lane road in Forsyth County, sending the driver to the hospital and shutting down the road. The Georgia Department of Transportation was urging motorists to give up driving when they see high water.</p><p>"You need to abandon your car," said DOT spokeswoman Jerrice Boyd.</p><p>About 55,000 Georgia Power customers were without electricity Monday morning, said Konswello Monroe, a spokeswoman for the utility. Of those, 49,000 were in the Atlanta area. The rest were scattered around the state with most in northwest Georgia, Monroe said.</p><p>The storm hit areas still recovering after being buffeted last week by remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy. That storm has been blamed for two deaths. It also spawned tornadoes that damaged homes and caused extensive damage at the Atlanta Motor Speedway at Hampton, south of the city.</p><p>Although Georgia was not in the Hurricane Dennis' main path, the first band of storms spinning out of the hurricane began rolling across the state shortly before midnight Saturday.</p><p>___</p><p>Associated Press reporter Kristen Wyatt in Atlanta contributed to this report.</p>
