Remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur, the first named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, left their mark on portions of Putnam County last week. A downed tree claimed the lives of two young men, while other fallen trees caused power outages and blocked roadways.
The two men, 24-year-old Logan Christopher Deal and 25-year-old Jakob Hogan Tapley, both of Ellabell, were killed instantly when a tree fell onto their pickup truck around 6:15 a.m. Friday, June 19. They were staying with others at a short-term vacation rental on Lake Sinclair.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said Deal and Tapley were riding in the back seat of a 2023 Toyota four-door pickup driven by Zane Dyal. The group was traveling west on Pea Ridge Road when, as they approached the intersection with U.S. Highway 441, a large oak tree fell and struck the cab of the truck.
Dyal and front-seat passenger Tyler Leif Meeks, both 25 and also of Ellabell, were injured and transported by ambulance to Atrium Health Navicent Medical Center in Macon for treatment.
Sills noted the oak tree appeared healthy and showed no signs of decay when crews cut it apart to remove it from the roadway.
“Evidently, the ground was just saturated, and it uprooted,” he said Friday. “There’s nothing anybody could’ve done to prevent it. The same thing was happening all over the county yesterday and this morning; we’ve had trees down everywhere from this storm.”
Putnam County Extension Agent Keith Fielder said 2.87 inches of rain fell in Putnam County last week, according to monitors operated by the UGA Central Georgia Research and Education Center on Godfrey Road in Eatonton. The UGA Weather Network also recorded wind gusts of up to 32.8 mph.
A Flood Warning and Tornado Watch were issued for portions of central Georgia on Friday, but Sills, who also serves as the county’s emergency management director, said Putnam County experienced “no tornadic activity.” However, it did see a remarkable number of downed trees, according to Putnam County Public Works Director Anthony Frazier.
“With the support of the Putnam County Fire Department, Tri-County EMC, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and E911/Dispatch, Public Works personnel worked diligently through the night and day to address downed trees throughout the county and ensure roads were cleared for safe travel,” Frazier said Friday in a post on the department’s social media page.
The post also expressed gratitude to “the citizens who selflessly assisted our personnel in their efforts (by) providing support in various capacities, including cutting trees, directing traffic, or dragging limbs by hand or with their own vehicles.”
A resident contacted The Eatonton Messenger on Sunday to report that numerous trees were down at Lawrence Shoals Park on Lake Oconee, forcing the park to close. According to the caller, the beach remained open, but the rest of the park was closed. An effort to reach Georgia Power before The Eatonton Messenger's press time was unsuccessful.