A drenching rain fell off and on across north Georgia Saturday, including the Gainesville area, causing scattered power outages, downed trees, minor flooding, and some damage.
The National Weather Service reported that some areas had received up to 5 inches of rain by 7:30 p.m. At that time, the Gainesville airport had recorded 2.02 inches, but there were unofficial reports of better than three inches in some places in Gainesville and Hall County.
As a result of the downpours and the threat of even more rain throughout the afternoon and early evening, the NWS, early Saturday afternoon, issued a Flash Flood Warning for portions of Hall and several other north Georgia counties. It expired at 8:15 p.m. A Flash Flood Watch, which was issued late Saturday morning, remained in effect, however, and is expected to remain in place through Sunday evening.
Earlier in the day, as the first wave of thunderstorms moved through, Hall County Fire Service personnel responded to seven lightning strikes.
Spokesman Zach Brackett said the calls began coming in around 10 a.m. and primarily from the South Hall area. He said there was minimal damage to the structures that had been struck by lightning.
The rains, which brought an end to a prolonged dry spell, are expected to continue Sunday and into the middle of the week.
(AccessWDUN's Alyson Shields contributed to this story.)
