More summer storms strike, residents flooded out allowed to return

GAINESVILLE - Another round of summer storms hit North Georgia Friday night, leaving in their wake downed trees, spotty power outages and floods, according to authorities.

Hall County Sheriff's Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks said more than 100 people were affected when flooding forced the evacuation of three mobile home parks along the upper reaches of the Flat Creek Watershed.

"The majority of those went to the homes of friends and family members, but we did have about 40 to 45 that were displaced to Blackshear Place Baptist Church, who set up and emergency shelter," said Wilbanks.

He said while the floodwaters had receded at the Downtowner Mobile Home Park on McConnell Drive and the Gainesville and C&C Home Parks on highland Terrace, residents would not be allowed to re-enter their homes until inspectors deemed them safe to inhabit.

Power was restored around noon on Saturday and residents were allowed back in their homes.

According to Corporal Kevin Holbrook with the Gainesville Police Department, several main thoroughfares in the city were closed for a time Friday night due to flooding. He said some of the streets that were affected were Pearl Nix Parkway at Dorsey Street, Martin Luther King Blvd at E.E. Butler and Bradford St. at Jesse Jewell Parkway.

Holbrook said that other secondary streets were flooded and parts of the city had several trees down.

A spokesperson with Georgia Power said nearly a quarter of Gainesville was without power at the peak of the storms. Electricity was restored quickly, however.

Rainfall amount recorded at Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville Friday night was 2.96 inches.