The National Weather Service (NWS) has confirmed that a tornado appeared in Hall County Friday evening.
That comes after a damage survey was performed. Zach Brackett with Hall County Emergency Management said that several structures were damaged from trees falling and several docks were reported to have been flipped over, but no injuries were reported.
NWS confirmed that a mini-supercell produced a brief tornado over the northern part of Lake Lanier that lasted from 6:55 p.m. to 7:04 p.m.
It mostly traveled over water along the lake and it reached a peak wind speed of 90-mph.
That makes the tornado an Enhanced Fujita (EF) 1, which is the second tier in strength just over an EF0. EF1 tornadoes are between 86 and 110-mph gusts.
The path was roughly 3 miles long with initial damage noted off of Thompson Bridge Road near Lakewood Baptist Church where 10-15 trees were uprooted along with trees being down at an apartment complex across Thompson Bridge Road along N Cliff Colony Drive.
The next point of damage was reported near the west end of Basin Road. The tornado traveled mostly over water and an uninhabited bluff. Significant damage near The Bluffs along Cochran Road and Willow Trace were reported with “five to seven” residences having several large trees snapped or uprooted.
No structural damage was reported according to NWS.
A photo of the tornado’s estimated path is above, in the slideshow next to the cover photo.
