Tornado touches down South of Milledgeville

Update: 10 p.m. A tornado warning was issued on Saturday after a funnel cloud was spotted south of Milledgeville at approximately 6 p.m. on Saturday. The storm also generated heavy rain and hail the size of marbles. The tornado warning was lifted at shortly after 7 p.m., though a tornado watch will be in effect until 1 a.m. Sunday morning. Students in University Housing were relocated to safe zones in their respective buildings. Students in the dining hall were moved to the lower levels of MSU for cover. There were no injuries to anyone on campus. Officer Justin Gaines, coordinator of environmental health and occupational safety, stated the university was on alert throughout the day. "Myself and David Groseclose (assistant vice president for human services and budget interim director of Public Safety) watched the weather all day and compiled the numbers we would need to call," Gaines said. "We wanted to get everybody notified as quickly as possible." Public Safety was ready for when the Tornado Warning was officially issued. "The dispatcher called all the RAs and let them know to move their residents to shelther," Gaines said. "Groseclose activated the ConnectEd system. Myself and Sgt. Williams both went in patrol vehicles and notified everybody who was walking to seek shelter." Students who were subscribed to the ConnectEd system received phone calls and text messages. According to Gaines, this was the first time the system had been activated in a real emergency situation. The Tornado was spotted several miles South of town. No damage has been reported to any University Buildings, though there may be unreported hail damage. Damages to the area hit directly by the tornado are not yet available. All the Milledgeville Police Department were on call and unavailable for comment.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 14 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry