Storm Brings Downed Trees, Golf Ball-Sized Hail; Some Schools To Close Wednesday, While Others Are Delayed; 60,000 Lose Power At Height Of Storm

A strong storm swept through the Chattanooga area on Tuesday evening, bringing driving rain, powerful wind and golf ball-size hail.

Many yards were turned white with the large balls of ice - especially in Cleveland.

There were a number of trees knocked down, causing power outages.

 At the height of the incident, about 60,000 EPB customers lost power. As of 10 p.m., EPB hadrestored power to about 25,000 customers, and line crews continue to work as rapidly as possible to restore the remaining 35,000 customers. As of 11:15 p.m., power had been restored to 33,000 customers. Just before 5 a.m., there were about 7,200 customers without power.

For more information or to report an outage please use this link: Outage Map & Report Outage Page or call 423-648-1EPB (1372).

Tony Reavley of Hamilton County Emergency Management said, "Area fire departments were kept busy this evening answering calls related to,the storm that moved through the area. Fire departments responded to numerous calls of trees down and power lines down primarily in the middle to northwestern parts of Hamilton County.

"Dallas Bay Fire Department responded to a house struck by lightning on Huntington Forest Lane. No damage estimate was available. Mutual Aid was received from Red Bank and Highway 58 Fire Departments. Several structures were reported to have suffered wind damage throughout the same areas of the county.

"Office of Emergency Management personnel will be surveying damage reports in the morning. No injuries have been reported."

A metal roof was ripped off a structure on Berkley Lane in Hixson, and an RV was turned over.

EPB officials said, "The storm front sweeping through the Chattanooga area has caused widespread damage which is disrupting power to many EPB customers. Restoration efforts are underway with EPB line crews working as rapidly as possible to repair downed power lines and damaged equipment.

There were "significant outages" from Fort Oglethorpe north to above Bakewell/Sale Creek.

Hard hit sections included Lookout Mountain, Lookout Valley, Chattanooga Valley, South Broad Street, Rossville/Fort Oglethorpe, Red Bank/Moccasin Bend, Hixson/Northgate, Soddy Daisy and Bakewell/Sale Creek.

To the west there was significant damage at Nickajack/Haletown and to the east at Ooltewah/Collegedale. 

Marion County and Dayton City Schools will be closed on Wednesday. Delayed two hours will be Grundy County Schools, Polk County, Bledsoe County, walker and Chickamauga City Schools.

Whitfield County, due to the damage, was delaying the start of the school and could cancel it. Supt. Judy Gilreath said, "Whitfield County has many trees down and power outages. We will have a two-hour delay tomorrow. Buses will run two hours later than usual. Breakfast will be served. "Please do not bring your children to school early because there will not be anyone to supervise them. Staff will report two hours later than usual. If we discover more damage after daylight tomorrow, we may have to cancel school. If this is necessary, I will let you know ASAP tomorrow."

Gail Perry told of trying to make it up Lookout Mountain after the storm: "Going up Ochs Highway. there were two trees down in the road - one in the up lane and the other in the down lane. Then I went up Ochs Extension and a car coming down had blinkers on and stopped traffic because there was another tree over that road. I had to turn around on that road--where there is no wide place--to go back down. Branches and debris are everywhere."

She was coming home from the Red Bank Commission, which was in session when the storm hit, and all the lights went out. The commissioners conducted part of the meeting in the dark with flashlights.