Storms continue to cause damage, flooding, and outages

Published 6:55 pm Friday, July 21, 2023

Thunderstorms continued throughout the week bringing high winds, heavy winds, hail, and intense lightning to Athens, Limestone County and much of North Alabama. Another round of storms Friday afternoon brought more rain in areas already experiencing flooding.

“We had several reports of trees down and trees in power lines throughout county and city. The Athens Renaissance gym roof was damaged and flooded the 2nd floor,” Daphne Ellison with Limestone County EMA said. 

More power outages and fallen trees have been reported throughout the county and city following Friday afternoon’s storm. 

The city of Athens reports that nine trees are down in the city, including one large tree on Coleman Avenue which caused portions of the road to be closed. 

Rainfall totals reported by The National Weather service in Huntsville show Harvest receiving 7.74 inches of rain from 7 a.m. Thursday, July 20, until 7 a.m Friday, June 21. According to Limestone County EMA, reports were received of water over the roadway on Nick Davis, McCulley Mill, Capshaw and Sanderson Roads but all roads are open.

“District 2 placed impassable road signage at Capshaw Road and Sanderson until water receded. Road signage was removed at 9:30 a.m.,” Ellison said. 

EMA also received a report of wind damage to a carport cover in the Ardmore Area.

In Athens, a lightning strike at the Athens district Substation early Friday morning left much of the city and its downtown area without power. Power was restored in Athens by 8 a.m.

Tuesday, July 18, strong storms caused widespread damage, downed trees, and left at least 12,000 customers without power throughout the county. Athens Utilities and others worked around the clock to restore power and clean up debris from roadways.

As of Friday morning, only a handful of outages remained.

“Mainly, we have a few scattered ones where the homeowner is having to get something fixed on their side of the line,” Holly Hollman with the City of Athens said early Friday.

A power outage that occurred Thursday morning, July 20, was also due to Mother Nature but in a different form. A snake cause a disruption at the Athens Primary Substation on Elkton Road. The substation serves West Limestone, Clements, and parts of Tanner and Athens. Power was promptly restored, authorities said.