hurricane opal brought sustained tropical storm conditions to the area one night in early october 1995, uprooting hundreds of trees and causing widespread power outages, after soaking the area with rain for two days prior. since 1950 some metro counties have been hit more than 20 times by tornadoes, with cobb (26) and fulton (22) being two of the highest in the state. the dunwoody tornado in early april 1998 was the worst tornado to have struck the area. a tornado struck downtown atlanta in march 2008, causing a half-billion dollars in damage, one of the most expensive storms ever recorded anywhere.