FLOWERY BRANCH - It was apparently "straight-line winds" and not a tornado that damaged or destroyed several boats and boat docks at Aqualand Marina on Lake Lanier early Saturday, according to one official.
The storm roared through accompanied by strong winds, vivid lightning, torrential rains and some hail.
Hall County Fire Marshall Scott Cagle says the winds, which struck during a severe thunderstorm about 4:30, caused "severe damage" to three boat docks and destroyed one when it was tossed about, landing on several boats, damaging them. The boats, he said, were small ones - "runabouts and ski boats."
Dock master Sherry Campbell said destruction was apparently concentrated at and near Dock "M", where boats were listing and the dock roof was torn off, but no one was injured.
"The other stuff we can take care of, we'll have to look into it," Campbell said.
Lisa Curvin was aboard her boat and heard the storm approach around 4:30 a.m.
"I woke up and heard the wind, sounding kind of like the blades of a fan," she said.
Kevin Brown from McDonough said the storm woke him up on his boat; he started making a pot of coffee and then looked outside.
"I looked outside and saw the other side of the dock on top of my side of the dock on top of the boat," Brown said. "That's when I decided it was a little worse I had realized."
Brown said he wanted to make sure everyone knew he was safe so he got off the boat, but when he did authorities would not let him back on board. Brown estimated at least 100 boats were damaged, including his own. State Department of Natural Resources Ranger Mike Burgamy is stationed at Lake Lanier and said dock and boat damage appeared heavy.
"The roof's collapsed in, some floatation is missing from some of the fingers of the docks, some boats are listing," Burgamy said.
Lt. Ken Nix of the Hall County Sheriff's Office reports a few trees were downed - most of them in the southern end of the county. In the East Hall area, a storage building caught fire on Harmony Church Road at the height of the storm and the fire marshal says lightning probably caused it.
Cagle also says "three or four" people had to be rescued from a boat dock that tore loose from shore at Aqualand and floated out into the lake during the storm. Cagle says they were not injured.
Angler Louis Kitching from Buford said his "fisherman's luck" held up after he evacuated the people from the loose dock.
"I gave them a ride back and then assisted the Sergeant with getting a gentleman in a wheel chair and his rather large boat powered up and taken to another dock," Kitching said.
With the rescue work done, Kitching said he returned to his fishing and caught a 16-pound striper.
Thursday
June 12th, 2025
5:22AM
