Although the National Weather Service sent out a severe thunderstorm warning early Tuesday morning, meteorologists were surprised that tornados developed once the storm entered Georgia.

Around 5:40 a.m. the warning was sent out, and Lans Rothfusz, the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather station in Peachtree City, said there were no indications that the storms would turn into twisters.

“We had expected thunderstorms to come through the area,” he said. “Our models were predicting thunderstorms, but not at that strength.”

Carroll County Fire Chief Gary Thomas said by the time the first damage reports, which indicated something more serious than a thunderstorm, came in the storm was already gone.

“We always caution people that any time there is a severe thunderstorm, a tornado can form,” he said. “At that time of day, nobody reported to us any tornado-type information.”

Rothfusz said the storm meteorologists saw was unlikely to produce a tornado.

“The strength of the tornado and the location of the tornado in the storm were not typical for the location in Georgia,” he said.

On Wednesday, Carroll County Emergency Management Agency Director Tim Padgett said two tornados hit Carroll County. One classified as EF3 “ meaning the tornado’s winds were moving at 140 miles per hour or more “ hit the Smithfield Road area of Bowdon. That tornado was about 100 yards wide and traveled eight miles, Padgett said. On Horsley Mill Road, an EF1 (90 mph winds) tornado, which was also 100 meters wide, ran for about a mile.

“F3 is a very strong storm for us. We haven’t seen that kind of damage in several years,” Thomas said. “We did see that kind of damage with the tornado that spawned off Hurricane Katrina.”

Padgett said it was lucky that only a handful of injuries were reported.

“It was in the morning and everybody’s at home and everybody’s getting ready for work. Thank God we didn’t have any more injuries than what we did,” he said. “I did have a lot of people come back and tell me they had heard it on their NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) weather radio and went to their basement.”

Because a tornado watch or warning was not issued by the National Weather Service, the county’s weather sirens were never activated.

“So many people don’t take a thunderstorm warning seriously. We don’t set off any outdoor warning sirens unless it’s a tornado warning or a tornado watch and severe thunderstorm warning,” Padgett said. “If it’s a thunderstorm warning, that means conditions are right and conditions are favorable.”

Thomas said with only 22 weather sirens in the county, the alarm may not have even reached citizens living in the heaviest-hit areas.

“We encourage people not to depend solely on the weather service. There currently aren’t enough sirens to cover all of the county,” he said. “We encourage, and this is a good time to do that, people to get weather radios. My radio went off about 15 minutes before the storm hit Smithfield, which would have been 25 minutes before it hit Carrollton.”

The county is likely to stick with the state’s recommendation to only blow the sirens when a tornado watch or warning has been issued, Thomas said.

“If the sirens go off all the time, people get complacent. We’re looking at ways to improve that,” he said.

By Thursday, Padgett said the county had completed several damage assessment reports, but a financial total for the damage done was not available yet.

“This is a working document because we’re constantly getting new information in,” he said.

As of Thursday, 127 single family homes or mobile homes in Carroll County had received damage. Of those, 84 were considered to have minor damage, 36 had moderate damage and seven were ruled destroyed. Eight government buildings received minor damage; two businesses had minor damage, one had major damage and two were destroyed.

The Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s Office estimated that $15 million in damage was done across the state. Wayne Whitaker, a spokesman for the insurance commissioner, said citizens can call 404-656-2070 or 800-656-2298 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday if they need help with insurance.

“We can work with them if they’re having a claim problem or have a question about their policy,” he said.

Next week, Carroll County could be in for more storms.

“We’ve got another round looking like it’s setting up for Monday night into Tuesday morning,” Rothfusz said. “There is potential for very intense thunderstorms in Georgia.”