Atlanta's storm record and the roofer behind the reviews

March 14, 2008: a tornado through downtown

The National Weather Service office in Peachtree City rated the downtown Atlanta tornado an EF2 with maximum winds estimated at 130 mph. It struck at 9:38 pm EDT and damaged a path 6 miles long, from west of the World Congress Center to western DeKalb County south of Interstate 20, passing just north of the Georgia Dome during a basketball game. At least one person was killed and 30 were injured, according to the NWS summary.

NOAA's Storm Events Database describes damage to several high-rise business and hotel buildings in the heart of the city and carries a $25 million damage estimate. The next day, baseball-size hail fell across downtown Atlanta; the Fulton County emergency management director reported that it was hard to tell which damage came from the hail and which from the tornado. FEMA's DR-1750 for those storms includes Fulton County.

Metro hail and wind

From 2016 through 2025, NOAA's database records 33 hail events of 1 inch or larger in Fulton County, 19 in Gwinnett County and 17 in Forsyth County (NCEI). The counts are small, but some single events carry large damage estimates:

• On July 21, 2018, tennis-ball-size hail near Highways 29 and 316 in Gwinnett County carries a $4.5 million estimate, and golf-ball hail near the Lawrenceville airport another $3 million.
• Golf-ball hail a mile north of Cumming on May 22, 2020 is logged at $5 million in Forsyth County.
• A downburst with winds up to 90 mph crossed central and south Gwinnett from Lilburn to Snellville on June 1, 2018, along a path about 6 miles long and 2 miles wide.
• An EF2 tornado with 120 mph winds hit the Chestnut Ridge subdivision in South Fulton on March 19, 2018, leaving more than 50 homes with visible damage.

Tropical systems reach the metro too. On September 11, 2017, tropical storm winds in Gwinnett County destroyed nine structures and caused major damage to 73, mostly from falling trees, according to the county emergency manager. FEMA's Hurricane Irma declaration, DR-4338, with an incident period beginning September 7, 2017, covers Fulton, Gwinnett and Forsyth counties among others.

Reading reviews after a metro storm

If you are comparing roofers after a storm, the FTC's advice is worth applying. Its guide to evaluating online reviews warns that a burst of reviews over a short period can signal fakes, so look at when a roofer's reviews were posted, not just the average.

Two parts of the FTC's 2024 rule are especially relevant to contractors: reviews by a company's own managers or employees must clearly disclose that connection, and a business may not present a review website it controls as independent. The FTC's guidance for review platforms also asks sites to treat positive and negative reviews equally and to disclose how they calculate overall ratings, so it is fair to look for that explanation on any site you rely on.

License questions in the metro

Roofing on its own is a specialty trade in Georgia: the licensing board's specialty contractor list includes shingles and shakes, so a roof-only contractor needs no state residential license. Georgia law does let an unlicensed person do repair work if the person tells the owner that he or she holds no license under the contractor law and the work does not affect the structural integrity of the house (O.C.G.A. § 43-41-17). When the job grows beyond the roof into other work worth more than $2,500, ask whether the contractor holds a residential contractor license, check it in the Secretary of State's licensee search, and ask the city or county about permits.

The National Roofing Directory lists roofers in Atlanta and explains roof replacement costs in Atlanta; our home page covers the FTC rule in full.

Roofers in metro Atlanta

Here are roofing companies listed on the National Roofing Directory in Atlanta, Marietta, Alpharetta, Roswell and Lawrenceville.

Frequently asked questions

Did hail hit downtown Atlanta the day after the 2008 tornado?

Yes. The Storm Events Database records baseball-size hail across downtown Atlanta on March 15, 2008, and notes that shards of glass were reported across much of downtown.

Does a roofer doing a small repair need a Georgia license?

Not necessarily. Roofing is on the state's specialty list, and Georgia's repair exemption lets a person without a contractor license do repair work that does not affect the structure, provided the person discloses to the owner that he or she holds no license under the contractor law.

Should I trust a wave of new reviews after a big storm?

Be cautious. The FTC says a burst of reviews in a short period can mean they are fake, and suggests reading the reviewers' other reviews to judge how much to trust them.