A destructive storm battered Bulloch and neighboring counties Tuesday night around 7 p.m.,  leaving a trail of downed trees, and live power lines and damaging at least one home.
    A house on Lily Street at Kennedy Pond off Ga. 46 was badly damaged by a huge pine, but no one was injured. A man riding a motorcycle on Langston Chapel Road was struck by a falling tree, but escaped serious injury, said Bulloch County Public Safety Director Ted Wynn.
    Power lines danced on the ground and set small fires throughout the county as residents suffered power outages. Reports indicated the winds from the storm could have approached 70 miles per hour.
    Trees down on Foster Williams Road in Register would require backhoes to remove, according to emergency responders as they radioed each other about damage. A downed pecan tree on Brooklet-Denmark Road took out power lines and ignited a small grass fire, while similar fires sprang to life elsewhere in the county in spite of rainfall. Tree and power lines were reported down at Lakeview and Metts Road.
    One woods fire was reported on Buie Driggers Road off Old River Road South, and trees were down on Sugarland Boulevard, Mud Road, Oak Grove Church Road, U.S. 301 South near Jo-Dan Road, Old River Road, Rocky Ford Road, Old Riggs Mill Road, Cypress Lake Road and others.
    Trees were on top of cars behind the Pizza Hut in Statesboro.  Power lines tangled and arced on Circle Drive in the Grove Lakes subdivision. Power outages were scattered all over the county, Wynn said. "The damage appears to be widespread with reports in Brooklet, Statesboro and Metter.”
    As the first storm passed, crews from the Bulloch County Correctional Institute, Statesboro and Bulloch County fire fighters, Bulloch County Sheriff’s deputies, Statesboro Police officers and other public safety, law enforcement and emergency responders checked out reports and began removing trees and debris, according to Bulloch County Central 911 reports over radio airwaves.
     Another storm was expected to possibly affect the area later Tuesday night.
   
    Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.