News 12 at 6 o'clock / Friday, Feb. 24, 2012

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It all happened so fast that we did not know how to react. We caught most of it on camera.

It was like sitting inside a car war wash. The wind and rain battered the News 12 jeep, and cars backed up in the road as the storm began to pick up steam.

You could see the wind increasing by the second, and you could hear it, too.

The heavy gusts slapped our camera back in the jeep as we tried to record video.

My photographer had one question.

"Is this a tornado?" questioned News 12's Laura Warren as the jeep began to rattle.

We thought about making a run for it, but that is when the hail started.

Just as fast as the storm came up, enough calm returned for us to bring you my first report.

"We are here at 9th and Reynolds Street," I said as Laura recorded on her iPhone. "Take a look at the size of the hail that we are seeing coming down right now."

We found crews working to clear the road of a downed fence at the TEE Center construction site. But that was not all.

"I can tell you law enforcement is pulling up as we speak," we reported. "This massive tree is blocking both lanes of Reynolds Street going into downtown Augusta. This was a pretty big event."

It all happened in less than 10 minutes. A special thank you to the local barbershop that allowed us to hunker down and provide live reports once it was safe enough to leave the car.

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