Gainesville's Green Street has re-opened to traffic as of 3:30 p.m., according to Gainesville Police.
The large tree toppled when storms came through the historic district of Gainesville just after 2 a.m., bringing down power lines and blocking the busy street. Trees also fell in surrounding neighborhoods. Previously, it had been estimated the road would re-open between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
"Unfortunately, the tree that fell took out around nine power poles," said Gainesville Police Department Sgt. Kevin Holbrook earlier in the day. "Georgia Power, the utility companies, have no less than 40 trucks here on scene working as hard as they can to get everything up and going."
Gainesville Police had set up detours on all approaches to Green Street.
Holbrook said the situation could have been worse, but since Gainesville City Schools are now closed for the school year, that kept buses and other school traffic off the streets Wednesday.
(Click on the accompanying picture for a photo gallery of storm damage on Green Street and in other parts of Gainesville.)
(AccessWDUN's Ken Stanford and B.J. Williams contributed to this story.)
