ATLANTA – Four confirmed tornadoes ripped through Georgia Thursday, part of a storm system that left widespread structural damage, power outages and two deaths in their wake.
“The damage is literally statewide,” Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters Friday at the state Capitol shortly before he, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, and Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns left on a helicopter tour of damaged areas.
The first tornado report came in mid-afternoon Thursday in the LaGrange area, said James Stallings, director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency. But Spalding County suffered the worst damage when a tornado cut a path up to five miles wide, Stallings said.
Jones’ hometown of Jackson in Butts County also suffered heavy damage. A 5-year-old died there when a tree fell on a car in which he was riding. A state emergency response worker…
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