January through March proved to be an active period of severe weather through out the state of Georgia. Two high impact events occurred that left many people homeless and caused millions of dollars in property damage.
JANUARY 12, 2023 TORNADO OUTBREAK
We began monitoring the potential for a severe weather event on January 9th. The Storm Prediction Center highlighted a Slight Risk area for most of North and Central Georgia. The main threat appeared to be straight line winds thanks to a squall line, with the potential for renegade supercells ahead of the main line. On January 12th, the Storm Prediction Center upgraded the outlook area to an Enhanced Risk driven by the potential for strong, long tracked tornadoes.
Our route clearance team mobilized and initially started the day near Rome, Georgia. We knew the line would be oriented Northeast to Southwest, and this would allow us to parallel the line looking for renegade supercells that would pose the highest tornado risk. The main supercell of the day formed near Selma, AL and produced a tornado that caused significant damage as well as fatalities. This supercell cell would eventually impact the city of Griffin, Georgia as it merged with the line. During the merger there were three tornadoes on the ground at the same time. The strongest one causing EF-3 damage. Our sawyer team arrived roughly 7 minutes after the tornado occurred, and immediately began assisting local authorities with route clearance operations. Our team wrapped up route clearance operations around midnight January 12th.
Over the next several weeks our disaster relief team helped remove more than 20 hazardous trees from the properties of 10 amazing families.
