ATLANTA -- More than 400,000 Georgia customers lost power in the wake of Monday night's storm. After a massive effort involving crews from eight states, all but about 500 Metro Atlantans are back online.

The homes and businesses still in the dark were evenly split between Georgia Power and Georgia Electric Membership Corporation customers as of Thursday morning. Statewide, just over 4,600 were still without power.

Cleanup will take much longer. Wild winds late Monday and Tuesday morning snapped power poles and trees like twigs across the region.

At least nine people were killed by the storms that tore through the Southeast. Bright lightning, loud thunder and wind gusts above 60 miles per hour streaked through, dumping rain and hail across the region.

ATLANTA -- NBC's hit television series, America's Got Talent, is taping live in Atlanta at The Fox Theater, and ALL TICKETS ARE FREE! Join host Nick Cannon and judges Sharon Osbourne, Piers Morgan and Howie Mandel in the studio audience as the country's best singers, dancers, comedians, and performers compete live on national television for a chance to win $1 million.

America's Got Talent is traveling the country and will be in Georgia for THREE DAYS ONLY.  You can come out on April 12, 13, and 14 for 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. arrivals each day. 

ATLANTA -- The unofficial authority for college and university rankings is switching gears. For the first time ever, U.S. News and World Report has ranked the best hospitals in America's largest cities.

Out of the 57 hospitals in Metro Atlanta, Emory University Hospital tops the list.

It's followed by the Shepherd Center, Piedmont Hospital, Emory University Hospital Midtown (formerly Emory Crawford Long Hospital) and Kennestone Hospital.

The "metro Atlanta" rankings provided by U.S. News and World report only identified hospitals in the City of Atlanta, Sandy Springs and Marietta.  Children's hospitals also were not included in the rankings.