Storms Spark Grass Fires, Down Trees

There were no reports of house fires or trees on homes, but three grass fires, a car fire, and downed trees on power lines and roadways resulted from a line of severe thunderstorms that passed through Oconee County Thursday night.

High Shoals, Farmington, Watkinsville, and Antioch Church Road were the hardest hit areas of Oconee County, according to .

Firefighters and county road department employees used chainsaws and tractor equipment to remove trees from roadways, he said. and Georgia Power must clean up any trees that fell on power lines, he added.

As of 9:30 a.m. Friday, 391 Walton EMC members were without power and about 2,000 Georgia Power Athens area customers were experiencing outages.