Athens Hazard: Flash flood watch and tornado watch Forecast: Hurricane Michael is expected to hit Wednesday night with showers, a possible thunderstorm and wind gusts up to 35 miles per hour during the height of the storm. Total rainfall: 3 to 5 inches Albany Hazard: Hurricane warning, flash flood watch and tornado watch Forecast: The storm is expected to hit Wednesday evening with tropical storm conditions, possible hurricane conditions and wind gusts up to 33 miles per hour during the height of the storm. Total rainfall: 3 to 4 inches Augusta Hazard: Tropical storm warning and tornado watch Forecast: Hurricane Michael is expected to hit Wednesday night with possible showers, thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 20 miles per hour during the height of the storm. Total rainfall: Up to 4 inches Brunswick Hazard: Tropical storm warning, coastal flood advisory and tornado watch Forecast: Michael is expected to weaken to a tropical storm and move toward the city from now through Thursday, with possible wind gusts expected to reach between 39 and 57 miles per hour, posing a threat to "life and property." Total rainfall: Less than an additional tenth of an inch Columbus Hazard: Tropical storm warning and flash flood watch Forecast: Expect Michael to hit Wednesday evening, with wind gusts up to 73 miles per hour during the height of the storm. Total rainfall: 3 to 5 inches As the rain picked up outside, the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Macon was nearly bone dry inside as shoppers demonstrated a heavy thirst for water late Wednesday afternoon. Christian Boone/AJC Macon Hazard: Tropical storm warning, flash flood watch and tornado watch Forecast: Sustained winds of up to 45 miles per hour, with gusts approaching 60 miles per hour, are expected beginning at 8 p.m. and continuing into Thursday morning, with the brunt of the storm passing through between 2 and 4 a.m. "There's a real potential this could still be a Category 1 Hurricane when it hits Macon," said Chris Floyd of the local EMA. Total rainfall: 3 to 6 inches Savannah Hazard: Tropical storm warning and tornado watch Forecast: It will weaken to a tropical storm and move toward the city from now through Thursday, with possible wind gusts expected to reach between 39 and 57 miles per hour, posing a threat to "life and property." Total rainfall: Up to an inch Valdosta Hazard: Tropical storm warning and tornado watch Forecast: The storm is expected to weaken to a tropical storm and move toward the city from now through Thursday, with possible wind gusts expected to reach between 58 and 73 miles per hour, posing a threat to "life and property." Total rainfall: up to 3 inches Waycross Hazard: Tropical storm warning and tornado watch Forecast: Michael is expected to weaken to a tropical storm and move toward the city from now through Thursday, with possible wind gusts expected to reach between 58 and 73 miles per hour, posing a threat to "life and property." Total rainfall: Up to an inch More Hurricane Michael coverage from The AJC: » Hurricane Michael: How storm surges build up, destroy and kill » What is a state of emergency? Georgia braces for Hurricane Michael » Storm prep checklist for outside the home » What is a state of emergency? Georgia braces for Hurricane Michael » The difference between a hurricane watch and hurricane warning » How to know whether your tree will fall during Hurricane Michael » What you should do if a tree falls on your house or car — and how to prevent it from happening at all » For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page. » Download The Atlanta Journal-Constitution app for weather alerts on-the-go.<doc-sep>President Donald Trump is expected to visit the area next week to survey damage from the storm, and Gov. Nathan Deal encouraged him to come see the damage for himself. “It is still very early in the process, and many of the agencies are still in the assessment stage,” Deal said early Thursday. He urged residents to be patient and to let repair crews begin their work. Georgia Department of Transportation crews were working to clear at least 127 incidents where state routes are blocked. Interstate highways are clear, but it could be several days before all state routes in southern Georgia are open, a spokeswoman said. Thursday morning, farmers were assessing the destruction to their crops. At least 53 poultry houses had been wiped out in Coffee, Houston, Mitchell, Wilcox and Decatur counties, officials said. 10/11/2018 -- Albany, Georgia -- Ron Smith cleans up broken limbs and debris from his yard a day after Hurricane Michael passed through Albany, Thursday, October 11, 2018. (ALYSSA POINTER/ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM) Credit: Alyssa Pointer Credit: Alyssa Pointer A spokeswoman for the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency declined to comment on the scope of the damage, saying they needed more information. In Seminole County, an 11-year-old girl became the state's first — and, so far, only — known casualty of the storm. County authorities said the child died after some type of debris crashed into her home. By Friday evening, at least 16 deaths had been blamed on Michael across the Southeast. In Albany on Thursday, daylight revealed Michael’s might: 100 intersections blocked, 24,720 customers without power, trees toppled on houses, siding wrapped around light poles, and the glass blown out of the downtown convention center. “It represented an unprecedented amount of damage,” Dougherty County Commission chairman Chris Cohilas said at a press conference Thursday morning. Officials said a National Guard Unit was on its way. So were 45 lineman crews and 18 more tree-cutting crews. Five local shelters have been opened. The area dealt with nasty tornadoes that ripped up trailer parks in January 2017, but that was isolated to mostly trailer parks and this is widespread. “The damage to our infrastructure is phenomenal,” Cohilas said. Despite the destruction, officials in Dougherty had no reports of fatalities. At Woodall’s gas station near downtown, the man himself, Brooks Woodall, stood in the parking lot waiting for police to arrive. From the looks of it, a brick smashed his glass door. He said he emptied the register before the storm, but there were still snacks and smokes to grab. Woodall estimated it would cost $50,000 to replace the canopy. Terrance Davis, who has lived in Albany all his 25 years, rode out the storm at home off Jefferson Street. He said they lost power about 7 p.m. Wednesday. Trees covered most of the road in front of where he lives. “These past few years are the worst,” he said, referring to the January 2017 tornadoes that tore up whole neighborhoods in Albany. Roosters sounded off Thursday morning as neighbors checked on each other. PHOTOS: Hurricane Michael makes landfall, leaves destruction behind FULL LIST: School and business closings ﻿Michael had lost much of its punch and was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it arrived in Macon overnight, bringing wind gusts in excess of 50 mph. The Middle Georgia city was left with widespread power outages, about three dozen downed trees, and widespread relief that the worst had been avoided. By 5 a.m., the rain had stopped and the winds had subsided in Macon. Macon-Bibb Emergency Management Agency spokesman Chris Floyd feared Michael's wrath would exceed that of Tropical Storm Irma last September, which left 100,000 cubic yards of debris in its wake, closing 229 roads. The worst of the wind is now exiting GA. Here are some of the preliminary peak gusts here in GA as #Michael moved through. Albany hit the highest gust in GA: 70 mph. pic.twitter.com/H4PyMVu1eH — Katie Walls (@KatieWallsWSB) October 11, 2018 "We won't know the full extent of the damage for a little while," Floyd said. A tornado touched down in Crawford County, about 35 miles southwest of Macon, leaving seven homes damaged. But there were no reported injuries. Eastern Georgia missed the brunt of Michael’s destruction. In Toombs County, between Macon and Savannah, the storm passed through with 36 mph winds, including gusts up to 48 mph. At 6 a.m. Thursday, the known scope of damage was about 15 trees blocking roads, a tree falling into a house in Lyons, and a downed power line near the county line in Vidalia. Residents reported two explosions at a Georgia Power substation early Thursday. A fallen tree blocks Old Vidalia Lyons Road in Toombs County. Emergency crews are working to clear debris from Hurricane Michael. Photo: Johnny Edwards/AJC Credit: Johhny Edwards/AJC Credit: Johhny Edwards/AJC More than 5,500 households in Toombs, or about 20 percent of all residents, were without power early Thursday. But both Georgia Electric Membership Corporation crews and sheriff’s deputies were waiting until daylight to survey the damage, according to EMA Director Lynn Moore. After a downed phone line became tangled in a passing patrol car’s blue lights, the sheriff’s office pulled its cars off the roads. This cotton crop was battered by Michael in Moultrie, Ga. Agriculture officials estimated only 5 percent of Georgia's profitable cotton crop had been harvested before the storm arrived Wednesday. Photo courtesy: Georgia Agriculture Commissioner's Office “We know we’ve got some trees in the road,” Moore said, “we just can’t get out and get to them yet.” -For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page. -Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporters Arielle Kass, Joshua Sharpe and David Wickert contributed to this article.<doc-sep>Tornadoes ripped across counties in Florida and Georgia on Thursday, adding danger to the carnage left by Hurricane Michael. Associated Press reported several tornadoes have been spotted by local news channels — including in Clay and Sarasota counties in Florida, and Fort Stewart, Georgia, on Wednesday. The wreckage left by a tornado in Crawford County. NBC 11 Alive/YouTube Damon Powers filmed this tornado from Sarasota, Florida, on Wednesday: The National Weather Service issued a Tornado Watch across some central counties in Georgia, an update on Wednesday said. In South Carolina, Chesterfield, Cherokee, York, and Lancaster counties are under tornado watch as of 6 a.m. on Thursday. Brian Monahan, a Meteorologist with WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, tweeted on Wednesday there was a "threat of isolated brief tornadoes." President Donald Trump described Hurricane Michael on Wednesday: "It's like a big tornado, a massive tornado." See how the hurricane grew from a tropical storm here.<doc-sep>
UPDATED wind gusts from #Michael last night and this morning here in GA. Peak was in Donalsonville - 115 mph! #StormWatchon2 pic.twitter.com/RbbohujdiW — Katie Walls (@KatieWallsWSB) October 11, 2018 In Fulton County, the National Weather Service confirmed that a weak EF-0 tornado touched down around 6:30 p.m. near Cascade Heights, Channel 2 reported. A tornado that strength has wind speeds between 65 and 85 mph, and it caused light damages. MORE: What does a tornado's Enhanced Fujita rating mean? This debris signature (yellow) is where a weak tornado touched down yesterday just west of Cascade Heights in Fulton County. pic.twitter.com/uBtnMPJ1LS — Brad Nitz (@BradNitzWSB) October 11, 2018 The storm took down trees, knocked out power and disabled traffic lights across metro Atlanta. More than 400,000 people are without power throughout Georgia, including 4,000 in Fulton County. A Georgia Power crew works to repair downed power lines on Fleetwood Drive in southeast Atlanta. BOB ANDRES / BANDRES@AJC.COM RELATED: Explore Hundreds of traffic signals down across Georgia as cleanup begins In northwest Atlanta, a tree fell on a vehicle on Anderson Avenue early Thursday, pinning a 31-year-old woman inside. Firefighters cut free a 31-year-old woman who became trapped in a vehicle after a tree fell on it. JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM Firefighters cut her free and she was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with internal injuries, Atlanta police said. There are downed trees blocking roadways in several counties, and many roads are closed. MORE: Downed trees and power outages in Atlanta A large tree blocking West Paces Ferry Road at Andrews Drive in Fulton County is one of dozens of downed trees in metro Atlanta in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Michael. JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM Wet pavement likely contributed to a deadly crash on I-20 East just before I-285 in DeKalb County, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center. The crash involved seven to nine vehicles and blocked the interstate for more than six hours Thursday morning. One person was killed. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. MORE: 1 killed in crash on I-20 in DeKalb ALSO: Flooded roads, power outages in DeKalb RELATED: Flooding threat remains in Gwinnett In Paulding County, the storm caused flooding and a part of Woodrow Kay Road near Proctor Road collapsed, according to local authorities. Gore Lakes Road off Mt. Olivet Road is also closed until further notice because of roadway damage. The roads are shut down until repairs are completed. As much as 6 inches of rain fell across parts of metro Atlanta during Michael, Walls said. Atlanta broke the record for the maximum rainfall recorded in one day with 3.42 inches of accumulation Wednesday. The last record, set in 1990, was 1.59 inches. RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM RAINFALL IN ATLANTA YESTERDAY. 3.42" Old record 1.59" in 1990. Rain continues to fall this morning. It will be clearing out for the afternoon. pic.twitter.com/27HaocmFZm — Karen Minton (@KarenMintonWSB) October 11, 2018 Flood warnings remain for Forsyth and Fulton counties until 8 p.m., and Gwinnett County is under a flood warning until 11 p.m., according to the NWS. Cobb and Paulding counties are under a flood warning until further notice. Powder Springs in Cobb County saw 6.34 inches, while Newnan in Coweta County and East Point in Fulton County recorded about 5.5 inches, according to Channel 2. Atlanta is not at risk of tropical storm-force winds, according to Channel 2, but the region should continue to experience wind gusts. “The tropical storm warnings and tornado and flash flood watches have been cleared across all of North Georgia,” Channel 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz said. “Gusts near 30 mph today will continue but the threat for heavy rain and damaging winds has ended.” ALL CLEAR: The Tropical Storm Warnings and Tornado and Flash Flood Watches have been cleared across all of North Georgia. Gusts near 30 mph today will continue but the threat for heavy rain and damaging winds has ended. Next up...cool fall weather! ☀️ 🍁 — Brad Nitz (@BradNitzWSB) October 11, 2018 Some schools and businesses were closed or delayed opening Thursday until the worst of Michael had passed. ﻿Conditions should continue to wind down as Michael moves further east. It likely won’t loose strength as it continues toward Virginia and the Atlantic Ocean by early Friday. And it continues to pick up speed, Walls said. “Unlike Florence, which was basically stationary, that’s not at all the case with Michael,” she said.