Hurricane Ike was the third most destructive hurricane to ever make landfall in the United States. It was the ninth named storm, fifth hurricane and third major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. It was a Cape Verde-type hurricane, as it started as a tropical disturbance off the coast of Africa near the end of August, then tracked south of Cape Verde and slowly developed. On September 1, 2008, it became a tropical storm west of the Cape Verde islands. By the early morning hours of September 4, Ike was a Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h) and a pressure of 935 mbar (27.61 inHg). That made it the most intense storm in the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. Ike made its final landfall over Galveston, Texas, United States as a Category 2 hurricane on September 13, 2008 at 2:10 a.m. CDT.

Ike was blamed for at least 195 deaths. Of these, 74 were in Haiti, which was already trying to recover from the impact of three storms earlier that year: Fay, Gustav, and Hanna. In the United States, 112 people were killed, and 34 are still missing.[5] Damages from Ike in US coastal and inland areas are estimated at $24 billion (2008 USD), with additional damage of $7.3 billion in Cuba, $200 million in the Bahamas, and $500 million in the Turks and Caicos, amounting to a total of $32 billion in damages. Ike was the third costliest U.S. hurricane of all time, behind Hurricane Andrew of 1992 and Hurricane Katrina of 2005.

Mother's Day 2008 will be remembered by many in Georgia as a day of fury by Mother Nature. Severe thunderstorms plowed through portions of North and Central Georgia during the morning hours of May 11, 2008 resulting in damaging wind, large hail and several tornadoes. At least two people were killed by a tornado and several were injured. The state insurance commissioner's office estimated insured damages totalled at least 125 million dollars. The damage was so extensive in eleven counties in northern and central Georgia that Governor Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency. A state of emergency was also declared in some counties in South Georgia. Some schools were closed for a couple of days.

Storm damage survey teams from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City found a lot of damage caused by straight-line winds, which caused damage to many trees and some structures. Some trees fell onto homes and vehicles. They also found evidence of at least 15 tornadoes - most of which severely damaged homes or completely destroyed buildings. 500 people were displaced when they lost their dwellings in Ellenwood (Clayton County). Extensive damage occurred on the campus of Macon State College in Bibb County. In addition to damaged buildings, the college lost half the trees on campus. The strongest tornado (EF3) occurred in Treutlen County. Most of the others were rated EF2. The first tornadoes touched down almost simultaneously shortly after 4 am EDT in Carroll and Troup counties. By 7 am they had moved down into east central counties (Toombs and Treutlen).