National Weather Service Meteorologist Mary Black said the NWS issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Bradley, Polk, McMinn and Meigs Counties at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
“The storm had already moved into the area about 10 minutes before the warning was in place. It was issued from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.,” said Black.
The storm brought winds ranging from 50 to 60 mph, hail and up to three inches of rain were reported in the area, according to the meteorologist.
According to Cleveland Utilities General Manager Tom Wheeler, during the height of the storms approximately 2,500 customers were out of service. Wheeler said the outages were concentrated primarily to the north and northwest section of the Cleveland Utilities service area near the Tasso Lane, Burlington Heights, Walnut Drive and Hickory Drive areas.
Wheeler said high winds causing trees to fall on power lines created a significant number of the outages. About 90 percent of customers had power restored by 6 p.m.
Black said Friday’s storm was “slow moving,” moving west at only 5 mph.
“That is quite slow for thunderstorms,” she said.
The torrential rains brought temporary and minor flooding to many roads in the city and county.
Black said the quarter-size hail reports came from the southern part of Bradley County.
