THOMASVILLE — Two separate weather events ravaging through Thomas County were the cause of power outages, downed trees and damages on Sunday.

The first was a tornado, according to Chris Jones, Thomas County Emergency management director and county fire chief.

The tornado touched land around 3 a.m. Sunday.

“It traveled all the way through our county,” Jones said, as the tornado’s path started around Highway 19 and ended north of Pavo at the Thomas/Brooks County line.

The second event involved straight-line winds. According to Jones, wind speeds are in the process of being determined, but generally are 60 miles per hour.

The strength of the tornado is also in the process of being determined.

A total of 58 structures were damaged by the two events, Jones added.

Archbold Memorial Hospital treated four patients after storms in Thomas County on Saturday. Of those patients, one was admitted to the hospital and is currently listed in serious condition. The other three patients were treated for minor injuries and released.

“In preparation for the storm, the Archbold Emergency Operation Center (EOC) opened at 3 p.m. on Friday and remained open until 5 p.m. Sunday,” said Chuck Winchester, Archbold’s emergency management coordinator. “In advance of the storm, the hospital participated in weather briefings with the National Weather Service and the Thomas County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), and we remained in constant contact with Thomas County EMA throughout the event.”

On Sunday, the hospital operated under code triage standby, which calls for hospital leadership to analyze potential impact to the hospital and implement plans to ensure hospital readiness.

“We analyzed staffing levels and ensured we had extra food, water and medical supplies on-hand,” said Perry Mustian, Archbold president and CEO. “Our staff did an outstanding job providing care for patients at a very stressful time.”

In between the two events, multiple thunderstorm and tornado warnings were issued. The thunderstorm warnings ceased at 4:15 p.m. and the tornado warnings followed shortly after.

Jones added there is a tremendous amount of debris on the right-a-way countywide, which is estimated to take three-to-four weeks to remove.

The storm enlisted the help of several entities, including the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office.

According to Capt. Steven Jones, Thomas County Sheriff’s Office public information officer, an estimate of 150 extra hours was employed during the storm. The deputies averaged 7-10 hours on Sunday, with the longest being 14 hours.

Jones added reported accident and injury incidents to the sheriff’s office has not increased. On Sunday, two storm-related accidents and three injuries were reported.

Thomasville police officers, public works and utilities crews and firefighters also helped and assessed damage. More than 150 combined law enforcement and public works personnel aided in the repair of Sunday’s destructive weather events. The Thomasville Police Department will continue to help in the damage assessment in the city.

The weather also affected Thomas County Schools bus routes.

“The morning bus routes were safely completed, and all but one was on time,” Thomas County Schools Superintendent Dr. Dusty Kornegay said. “We had one bus that had to turn around at the end of a road to back into some soft ground and get bogged down. The students were transferred to another bus and arrived at school around 8:20 a.m.”

Gov. Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency for 16 Georgia counties, Thomas included. The state of emergency was extended to 16 counties on Monday.

While Thomas County did not have storm-related deaths, 14 deaths have been reported in South Georgia areas hit with destructive weather, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

Following the wave of severe weather sweeping across South Georgia, the Red Cross is set to work closely with local emergency partners to prepare to respond, according to a press release.

“In addition to support for local emergency responders, our first priority will be to work with our partners to provide food and safe shelter for those in need,” said Chris Baker, Red Cross disaster officer for Georgia. “We continue to monitor the strong potential for flooding and more tornadoes over the next 24 hours and are prepared to respond to local communities statewide.

Editor and senior reporter Pat Donahue and Patti Dozier contributed to this report.

Reporter Jordan Barela can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1826.