NWS Confirms Tornado Touched Down in Alpharetta

The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado was part of the severe weather that rolled through Alpharetta early Tuesday morning.

A forecaster with the agency told Patch surveyors currently on the ground in Alpharetta say the EF1 tornado touched down in the vicinity of Rucker Road. An EF1 tornado packs winds from 86 miles per hour to 110 miles per hour, the National Weather Service forecaster noted.

The forecaster said the team from the National Weather Service are still surveying the damage along Rucker Road. Once they compile information collected from the site visit, they will be able to provide more detailed information such as the tornado’s exact location of touch down and the actual path it traveled.

Alpharetta was forced to close Rucker Road at Harris Road on Tuesday due to a considerable amount of fallen trees and power lines that littered the area. The city within the last hour has reopened Rucker Road, but noted the thoroughfare remains closed at its intersection with Harris Road.

The agency has also issued a flood warning for Big Creek near the city until Thursday morning. As of 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, the creek stood at 6.7 feet and was rising.

“Minor flooding is forecasted since the flood stage is 7 feet,” the report states. ”Water is forecasted to rise above flood stage by midnight and continue to rise to near 7.2 feet by Wednesday morning. The creek will fall below flood stage by early Thursday morning. Minor flooding of woodlands and fields begin along the creek between Cumming in Forsyth County to Alpharetta and Roswell in North Fulton County. Flooding starts to effect portions of the Big Creek Greenway near Alpharetta and some portions may become closed with around one foot of water, especially upstream and downstream from the gage on Kimball Bridge Road and near Rock Hill Park. Portions of the YMCA campground off Preston Ridge Road will begin to flood.”

(Photo credit: Patch file)