Fire Chief Ricky Pruitt: “It Could Have Been a Lot Worse”

CLEVELAND, Ga. — “We had some property damage, but fortunately nobody was injured,” Cleveland Fire Chief Ricky Pruitt said after a severe thunderstorm accompanied by multiple lightning strikes and hail blitzed downtown Cleveland Monday afternoon.

Some power outages were reported as trees fell across power lines and roadways during the 45-minute storm.

A tree fell across Hwy 75 south then a power line was knocked down on Warrior Path near the middle school. Also during the storm, an elderly driver leaving Chic-Fil-A hit the gas pedal instead of the brake and ran into another vehicle and knocked down the hand railing.

“We also had a tree knock down a power line at Tractor Supply and a portion of a roof was blown off a home on Hood Street,” Pruitt said. “Then lightning struck a home in two separate places and exploded the meter box and a water line. We were very busy, but it could have been a lot worse.”