Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

ALBANY, GA --
Severe weather ripped through Southwest Georgia Wednesday night, putting multiple counties under a tornado warning.

The storm is reportedly responsible for a death in the northern part of the state, and while it appears Southwest Georgia avoided any fatalities, strong winds did bring down trees thought the area.

Northwest Albany resident Tim Bonner's house was in the path of a 100 foot pine tree, that was sent crashing down onto the roof of the house due to the severe weather, sending limbs straight through the ceiling.

"Had I been home, I would've probably been on the sofa where the limb came through," said Bonner.

Fortunately for Bonner, he wasn't home at the time and  Harper Tree Service was out within a few hours to remove the tree.

For Harper, that was just the start of a few days. "It's pretty busy, we've already had 17 calls that we're running right now," said Lee Harper, owner of Haper Tree Service. And that was before 10 AM Thursday morning.

Harper says a disease, coupled with high winds, lead to the tree’s demise.

Experts say March can be a windy month, so it's important to check your property for sick trees.

"It's a very serious thing that needs to be done, you need to go around the house and look and see if you have any disease trees or dead trees," said Harper

If you find a tree that needs to be removed or need help identifying a sick tree, call an expert to help.

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