Hail as big as ... well, you know ... pelts island Saturday night

Communities were cleaning up Sunday across central and eastern South Carolina after a series of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes downed trees, damaged houses and caused minor injuries.

Beaufort County was largely spared even though large hail pelted southern parts of the county. The hail pounded roofs and cars on and off for about 10 minutes late Saturday.

Local fire departments reported no major damage to trees or structures.

Bad weather prompted Savannah-Chatham Metro Police to close several St. Patrick's Day festival venues after power outages left more than 150,000 residents, revelers and police officers in the dark. There were more than 7,000 people on River Street and thousands more in City Market that were sent on their way beneath generator-powered lights.

The National Weather Service confirmed at least eight tornado touchdowns. Five were rated as the second-weakest on the scale for measuring tornadoes. The rest were the weakest.

The Weather Service said seven injuries were reported in Berkeley County when a tornado hit the Strawberry Hill mobile home park. The Weather Service said three people were taken to the hospital. Their conditions were not available.

In Florence County, the Weather Service says three people had minor injuries and two livestock animals were killed when a tornado with maximum winds of 105 mph overturned three mobile homes. The storm was 100 yards wide and traveled 14 miles.

In Berkeley County, the roof was blown off Zion Methodist Church and large trees were uprooted or snapped in a tornado touchdown, the Weather Service said.

In Horry County, roofs were peeled off homes and a carport was thrown

150 yards when a tornado with maximum winds of 80 mph touched down briefly near Aynor. The storm was about

25 yards wide and traveled about a quarter-mile, the Weather Service said.

There were several other reports of possible tornadoes and damages from high winds Saturday.

Two people were killed when the storms passed through Georgia on Saturday, less than 24 hours after a tornado with wind up to 130 mph cut a 6-mile path through downtown Atlanta, blowing windows out of skyscrapers and injuring dozens.

Island Packet reporter Daniel Brownstein contributed to this report.