Ice Storm Grips the South; Tree Falls On Home in Northeast Atlanta, Injures 88-Year-Old Woman

Oliver Surry surveys ice storm damage to his home

Atlantans woke up this morning to freezing rain, snow, ice, and wind that downed trees and power lines leaving thousands of residents with no power across the region.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports nearly 60,000 Georgia Power customers are without power this morning. Temperatures in the Metro Atlanta area hovered around 30 degrees at 9 a.m.

The AJC reports that a tree fell on a house in northeast Atlanta, injuring an 88-year-old woman who was trapped in her bedroom under insulation and sheetrock.

Oliver Surry told the AJC he was asleep around 5:00 a.m. Wednesday when he heard “a loud noise on the backside of the house” on the 200 block of Martha Avenue.

“I got up and looked in my grandmama’s bedroom,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She was up under a lot of insulation and sheetrock.” Surry said the noise was caused by an old tree falling on the house.

Surry said his grandmother, Liela Grier, suffered a small gash over her eye “and a little swelling,” but she is alright and the house is still habitable.

Atlantans, already shell-shocked from the last Winter storm that paralyzed the South 2 weeks ago, emptied grocery store shelves of the essentials — bread, milk, and eggs. Social media users tweeted photos of empty grocery store shelves on Monday and Tuesday, as anxious residents took heed of warnings from the national weather service of a “catastrophic” ice storm.

All schools across Atlanta were closed on Tuesday, and city streets and highways were deserted Tuesday evening. Some roads were closed as 2 inches of ice accumulated overnight. The Georgia Dept. of Transportation (GDOT) urged residents to stay off the roads. But if you must drive, the GDOT suggests you use the 2 right lanes on the Interstate highways.

Referring to the ice storm as “historic,” the weather service warned snow and ice will severely impact travelers and residents from Texas to the Carolinas.

Viewer sent us pics of empty store shelves. Send us your weather pics at myphotos@wfmy.com or tweet @WFMY #GotSnow pic.twitter.com/6Y0DhsszpM

— Patrick Wright (@ptwright) February 12, 2014