COVINGTON, Ga. — County school officials canceled classes today and one electric service provider predicted power not being restored until this weekend in parts of south Newton after a line of storms downed trees and power lines Thursday afternoon.

Snapping Shoals Electric Membership Corp. (EMC) asked for help from 11 other EMCs to restore power, a spokesperson said. 

The EMC reported almost 5,000 homes and businesses in Newton County — most in far southern Newton — were still without power this morning as crews worked to restore service throughout the night.

Snapping Shoals said this morning it still had a major outage in south Newton, where a substation was reported out of service and affecting 4,000 customers.

"There was significant damage to the transmission line, and crews are actively working to repair it. Some outages may last well into the weekend," said Snapping Shoals spokesperson Leigh-Anne Burgess.

She said crews also "are facing trees on lines and numerous broken poles, which can take hours to repair." 

A broken pole is southwest Newton and wires down in west Newton were the sources of most of the other outages, the EMC reported.

Today's outage total was down from 14,000 throughout the EMC's service area in the midst of the storm at 6 p.m., Thursday — which followed the NWS issuing a tornado warning for Newton County. 

The National Weather Service (NWS) reported winds as high as 57 mph in some areas of Metro Atlanta. Tornadoes touched down in DeKalb, Spalding, Troup and Meriwether counties Thursday, the NWS reported.

Newton County government spokesperson Bryan Fazio reported debris and whole trees covering parts of Ga. Hwy. 36 in south Newton. Side roads off Hwy. 212 and near Hwy. 36 were closed as crews cleared downed power lines and the trees many were tangled in.

Damage also was reported along Hwy. 11 near Henderson Mill and Hwy. 36 near Hwy. 162. 

Fazio said county road crews and personnel from other agencies throughout the state worked throughout the evening to clear roadways in the area.

Some Newton County residents were confined to their homes due to the downed power lines and trees, he said. 

Crews from Newton County Public Works, Newton County Fire Services and Newton County Sheriff's Office, and Georgia Emergency Management Agency, state Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Forestry worked to clear additional roads as soon as the power lines were cleared.

Work was anticipated to last throughout the weekend.

Newton County school officials canceled classes and closed the central office today, Jan. 13, as a result of storm damage and power outages across the county. 

"Information regarding a make-up day for school and work will be provided at a later date," the school system reported.

Near Mansfield, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center and parts of Marben Public Fishing Area and Clybel Wildlife Management Area also sustained some damage during the storms on Thursday, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Resources Division. 

The area remained open Friday morning as crews worked to remove trees and debris along Murder Creek Road.