Possible tornado in downtown Atlanta

[burythehatchet]

Source: CNN

Hit Georgia Dome

Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3294382

[skooooo]

1. Not "possible" it's real...

Hit the Georgia Dome I guess....

[burythehatchet]

3. this is bizarre. in 21 years here I've never seen one hit downtown

[blayne]

28. It is weird when they hit downtown areas,

but I remember when one hit Ft Worth about 8 years ago. Seemed strange at the time, but they had to demolish a "sky scraper" due to irreparable damage.

[bitchkitty]

31. One tore the roof off the Governor's mansion

about 35 years ago, when I lived in GA. It also tore up a 7-11 down the block, but I slept through it. :)

[againes654]

2. Two holes in the side of the Georgia Dome

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3011677

[onehandle]

4. Storm damages Ga. Dome, delays SEC game

A wind storm caused several bolts to fall from the rafters of the Georgia Dome on Friday, temporarily delaying a basketball game between Mississippi State and Alabama.

The storm hit the Dome at 9:40 p.m., causing catwalks to sway and insulation to fall from the roof as fans left their seats and huddled in the concourse looking for safety. Curtains that drape the sides of the Dome blew open. Fans said they could see lightning outside the building when the curtains blew open. There were no reported injuries.

Announcers for Raycom sports cleared a camera tower in the upper deck of the Georgia Dome as the storm passed. One announcer cited "at least three large tears in the corner to my right."

Security was given credit for averting "a stampede situation" which was developing in the upper levels of the Dome.

snip...

Another storm was headed toward Atlanta, according to radar.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/14/domeburst_0315.html

[burythehatchet]

8. I just had a small burst of very heavy rain over by Emory

[onehandle]

10. I'm just a few block away. We had the same with a lot of lightning. nt

[emilyg]

27. I'm in your area.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. Maybe a microburst?

NOAA doesn't have anything other than severe t-storm warnings for Atlanta...

[skooooo]

6. CNN Headquarters hit...

[BadgerKid]

7. ESPN's report

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3294382

[burythehatchet]

9. thanks. I put the link in the OP

[DesertRat]

13. Another new link from CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/14/storm.atlanta/index.html

[Up2Late]

11. It was definitely a tornado, it ripped a big hole in the Georgia Dome Roof, damaged the CNN Center

...and the Phillips Arena DURING the SEC Basketball tournaments (the games were halted)!

Btw, they just showed some (what looked like) Camera Phone video on CNN.

[burythehatchet]

12. yep, it sliced through downtown after hitting the Dome.

CNN center was hit hard

[onehandle]

14. TV says another big storm headed to Cobb and then in this direction.

Pretty much right towards North Atlanta and Decatur in 30 to 40 minutes.

[burythehatchet]

16. mommy!

:scared:

[burythehatchet]

15. top floor of a loft complex completely torn off. Wow. Looks like

a lot of damage is many locations

[onehandle]

17. I saw that on local Faux. 11 Alive is showing damage in East Atlanta and flooding at the Omni. nt

[burythehatchet]

18. I'm a little concerned, there's more cells coming

our way

[onehandle]

20. Ugh. We have six giant oak trees around our house on our lot.

Faux is showing lots of footage of the Omni/Phillips complex. The entire front is shredded.

[burythehatchet]

21. they're showing the Westim was hit. I wonder if anyone was

unlucky enough to have been on the outside elevators when it happened. That would have been a hell of a ride

[onehandle]

22. I'm hearing thunder again. nt

[onehandle]

24. Seems to be over. I'm posting on my iPhone because Comcast is down.

Hope everything is good at your place.

[Pastiche423]

30. Was the Westin originally

the Peachtree Plaza? An all glass phallic hotel?

[Buns_of_Fire]

34. I believe it's now officially called the "Westin Peachtree Plaza"

Same one. Originally built by John Portman, I believe. Smack dab downtown.

[burythehatchet]

35. yup. with the rotating restaurant on top...top of the shwantz we cal it.

[Pastiche423]

45. Before the hotel opened

I went in for a job interview. They were interviewing in the resturant, IIRC, on the 3rd from the top floor. One of the windows had not yet been installed.

It freaked me out, so I stayed as far from the window as I could. I got a job as a reservationist. One day I came into work and two full pages in the reservation book were crossed out for the Carter party.

The Carter party arrived w/dozens of guys w/"earphones". I asked who the heck this Carter guy was. A co-worker told me, that's our governor and he's running for president! He was kind and gracious to us all.

Less than a year later, Jimmy Carter became our president.

[burythehatchet]

19. GA WOrld COngress Center is flooded after a water main break

[RubyDuby in GA]

23. I work 4 blocks from the CNN Center. Our building got hit.

WE had an employee at the SEC basketball games and she walked back up to our building. It was hit. She said that they aren't letting anyone in. The building is over 100 years old. I'm worried like crazy about structural damage.

Also, we had a tornado about 5 miles from my house. I live in Covington, about 35 miles SE of Atlanta. It touched down right outside a town called Porterdale.

Scary scary night. I'm still dressed and have all the necessities in the closet just in case I've got to get the little one in there quick.
This is crazy. We don't have tornadoes out here...

:scared:

[onehandle]

25. Looks like it's mostly over for the evening, but TV said that we may have stronger storms tomorrow.

Yikes.

[RubyDuby in GA]

26. Oh that's nice! 'Cause these storms weren't strong enough

:P

Stay safe! :hi:

[KeepItReal]

29. Is CNN Atlanta off the clock? They got hit with an effin Tornado and they air reruns of AC360?

They are on the Barack pastor thing.

A Tornado hitting downtown Atlanta is not big news worth continuing coverage I guess.

[donheld]

32. Why does God keep punishing Atlanta?

:sarcasm:

[gatorboy]

33. Is that suppose to be cute?

Folks might have been killed. Fucking tacky...

[onehandle]

36. Atlanta braces for another severe storm

Source: AP

ATLANTA - Crews hadn't even had time to assess the damage from a possible tornado that ripped through downtown, smashing skyscraper windows, sucking furniture out of hotel rooms, crumbling part of an apartment building and rattling a packed sports arena, before they braced for another storm on Saturday.

An even larger system than the one that hit Friday night was forecast to move through northern Georgia starting at daybreak, bringing heavy rains and high winds to the area, said Vaughn Smith, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Peachtree City. Crews were expected to be in downtown Atlanta then to determine whether Friday's damage was caused by a tornado, he said.

At an early morning news conference, Mayor Shirley Franklin called the storm "what we now know was a tornado." But weather service officials continued to say only that a "possible tornado" hit around 9:40 p.m., accompanied by a storm packing 60 mph winds.

At least 27 people were hurt, though no injuries were believed to be life- threatening. Streets around the Georgia Dome, Phillips Arena, the CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park were littered with broken glass, downed power lines, crumbled bricks, insulation and even the occasional office chair. Billboards collapsed onto parked cars. Stunned fans from the arenas and hotel guests wandered through the debris in disbelief.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/ap_on_re_us/atlanta_storm

---

I see it approaching on radar. This is what Georgia gets for turning Republican.

We've had drought, severe storms, economic problems, and an upturn in crime ever since Sonny and the rest of the GOP Klan took over.

God Hates Republicans.

[japple]

37. God hates CNN, the olympics, and basketball, too! n/t

[Xenotime]

42. Why does everybody blame God? What about the people suffering?

Aren't you concerned about them?

[japple]

46. Oooooohh. Sorry, I forgot to post the sarcasm icon.

Edit to add:

I live in Georgia and I am very concerned about the people of this state, esp. those who were and will be affected by these storms.

What is wrong with you? Don't you understand when someone is using sarcasm to try to make a joke?

[TheCowsCameHome]

38. He's looking for Neal Boortz and other sources of evil

[jus_the_facts]

39. If God hates Republicans so much....seems he did them lots o' favors after Katrina?

:nopity:

Hope Hotlanta is spared anymore damage...there are a huge number of tourists in the area for the basketball tourneys. :(

[hermetic]

40. Still got a lot of power outages?

I've been waiting all morning to hear from a friend there.

[onehandle]

41. Mods need some logic lessons.

Atlanta gets hit by a tornado last night. Today there's a new bigger storm on the way within an hour or so and a completely different story. I post the NEW story as a warning to Atlanta DUers about the approaching storm and the thread is combined with the old story from yesterday.

Whatever.

[halobeam]

43. A new warning shouldn't have been merged w/ this, agreed.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

44. You should re-post it in GD... more people will see it there than at the bottom of this thread. nt