Widespread rainfall throughout the region has caused many downed trees and power lines in Hall County, causing many line crew members to work in the rain to remedy the situation.
According to Hall County Emergency Management Director Casey W. Ramsey, a flood of calls came in around 3:30 p.m. reporting the damage.
"We had around 20-25 calls for trees down and/or powerlines down throughout the county. Crews are actively working to clear all those calls currently," Ramsey said.
One active area as of 5 p.m. still being cleared are downed power lines caused by fallen trees on Thompson Bridge Road. However, Ramsey said the damage is minimal and there is no immediate threat to the public.
"None of them are causing any major issues that warrant notifying the public to avoid the area at this point," he said. "I also checked and it looks like there are about 3500 people affected by power outages as well."
Crews are actively working around the Hall County region, but to report an outage, contact your local energy provider.
According to the National Weather Service, the Gainesville area remains under a weather threat - a cold front continues to push eastward across the area.
NWS says the primary threat will be damaging wind gusts and a weak, brief tornado. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 9 p.m. tonight.
Rain and wind were not the only factors in Thursday's weather. Temperatures fell throughout most of the day in Gainesville, reaching 50 degrees by 6:00 p.m., 20 degrees colder than twelve hours earlier. A freeze warning remains in effect for Gainesville and other parts of north Georgia for Thursday night and Friday morning, with near-record lows possible in some areas of Georgia and other southeastern states.
(The Associated Press and AccessWDUN's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
