MainStreetNews

A 30-year-old Statham man was shot outside the Waffle House in downtown Winder early Monday. Ronald John Arnold was treated at Barrow Regional Medical Center for gunshot wounds to his foot and to his arm, according to a Winder Police Department incident report. He was shot in the parking lot on West May Street after midnight and the shots also ... [Full Story »] 

Heavy rain Sunday night was followed by high winds Monday morning, uprooting trees across roads, on power lines and on houses across Northeast Georgia.

In Jackson County, officials said straight line winds of 40 mph slammed the county, resulting in 51 trees down, 11 power lines down, two trees on residences resulting in minor damage, one roof of a porch blown off, two traffic signals blown down and 121 emergency calls.

Power outages were also reported in the area, but by 3 p.m. Jackson EMC reported that most power had been restored.

Earlier in the morning, the West Jackson Fire Department responded to a number of calls of trees down across roads. Especially hard hit in the West Jackson Area was Hwy. 332 where a number of trees across the road shut down traffic for a time.

No injuries had been reported at midday Monday from the weather.

Severe thunderstorms raked Jackson, Banks, Barrow and Madison counties Friday night. One fire was reported in the North Jackson area due to a lightening strike.

Jackson County Emergency Services issued the following report:

A series of storms moved through Jackson County starting around 6 p.m. this date and exited around 8 p.m. The storms resulted in the Jackson County EMA activating the weather warning sirens twice for tornadic activities in the area.

Several reports of tornadoes were reported through out Jackson County with no confirmed touch downs. Reports of several trees down in the roadways (5) were reported and quickly handled by Jackson County Sheriff's Office and the Jackson County road department.

Several power outages were reported due to downed power lines. Jackson EMC is currently working on that situation and power should be restored by midnight.

Two auto accidents were reported during the storms and resulted in only minor injures which were handled by Jackson County Rescue and EMS.

One fire was reported to an out building on Nichols Rd. in the Plainview community with Plainview, North Jackson, and the Jackson County CI Fire Departments responding and quickly extinguishing the fire. The fire was reported as being started by a lightning strike.

Jackson County storm spotters and a local amateur radio club, North East Georgia Amateur Radio Club/ ARES, were activated to monitor the storms and advise of changing weather conditions. No serious injuries were reported.

The chief financial officer of Barrow County’s government was suspended Monday morning for twice being “untruthful” to the board of commissioners. Beth Horacek, who has been the CFO since 2005, was suspended without pay for 40 hours, according to the notice of suspension that the Barrow Journal obtained under the state open-records act. ... [Full Story »] 

The number of foreclosures in Jackson County for the upcoming April sale date dropped slightly from March, down to 97 from 108. But while the raw count was down, the dollars involved soared for April to a new all-time high of $85.2 million for the month. That is nearly double the amount of foreclosure dollars from the previous record set in ... [Full Story »] 

A Bethlehem couple that held an underage drinking party for local high school students last Friday night is facing a host of criminal charges after one of the partygoers ended up in a hospital intensive care unit with alcohol poisoning. The 18-year-old girl was dropped off, unconscious, at Barrow Regional Medical Center in the early morning ... [Full Story »] 

The threat of river flooding in Jackson County appears to have diminished Sunday morning as the Middle Oconee River is now predicted not to exceed flood stage. The river was at 11.9 ft. Sunday morning and is predicted to drop during the day rather than rise into flood stage as earlier predicted.

Jackson County officials and agencies were out in force Saturday monitoring river levels for possible flooding following four days of rain. According to Jackson County EMA director Steve Nichols, "the Arcade Police Department, Jackson County Sheriff's Office, Jackson County Road Department, North East Ga. Amateur Radio Club members, and Jackson County Sky Warn members were very helpful today keeping up with the storms and the river levels. Our partnership with all of these agencies continues to provide for the safety of our citizens."

A flood warning had been issued Saturday by the National Weather Service for the Middle Oconee River near Arcade affecting Jackson and Barrow counties and for the Broad River near Carlton affecting Madison and Oglethorpe counties.