diethx
03-15-2008, 01:50 AM
ATLANTA - A possible tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta on Friday night, smashing skyscraper windows, sucking furniture and luggage out of hotel rooms, crumbling part of an apartment building and rattling the rafters of two major sports arenas filled with basketball fans. At least 13 people were hurt.
Streets around the Georgia Dome, the Phillips Arena, the CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park were littered with broken glass, crumbled bricks, insulation and even the occasional office chair. Billboards collapsed onto parked cars. Stunned fans from the arenas wandered through the debris in disbelief.
National Weather Service officials said a possible tornado hit downtown Atlanta, and wind was clocked at up to 60 mph as the storm moved through the city.
Most of the damage was concentrated in downtown Atlanta, Police spokesman Ronald Campbell said. He said authorities blocked off roads around the CNN Center, where heavy debris filled the streets. A chair from the skyscraper's lobby sat in the middle of the street, flanked by cars crushed by fallen debris.
Karone Edge, 23, was working out with two friends in a weight room at the Westin Hotel when he saw debris fly by the window. After watching the glass shatter in front of him, he said everyone began to run, and he fell, scraping his leg.
"I thought the building was falling like a terrorist attack," said Edge, who was walking around with a bloodied sock.
Buzz Weiss, a spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said nine people were taken to hospitals, including a firefighter. Grady Hospital, the city's large public hospital where eight of the injured were taken, had broken windows but was operating as usual.
Kendra Gerlach, spokeswoman for Atlanta Medical Center, said the hospital was treating about five patients in the emergency at around 11:45 p.m. She said each patients suffered minor injuries with only cuts, scraps and bruises.
"It's only a few, but I'm expecting to get more soon," she said.
Atlanta Fire Department Capt. Bill May said the department was working "multiple incidents" from East Atlanta to downtown. He said part of a loft apartment building collapsed, but he did not know if there were any injuries.
May said a vacant building also collapsed, with no apparent injuries. He said seven to 10 people had been taken to the hospital.
Weiss said search and rescue teams from five metro-Atlanta communities were called in as a precaution. He said the teams are equipped to handle rescues in collapsed buildings, but added that he did not yet know whether that kind of rescue would be needed.
Weiss said officials were unsure of the extent of the damage but said it"seems to be a little more widespread than it initially appeared." He said it would likely be daylight until a complete assessment could be made.
On its Web site, CNN said its headquarters building sustained ceiling damage, allowing water to pour into the atrium, and windows shattered in the CNN.com newsroom and the company's library. It also said Centennial Olympic Park was severely damaged.
At the Georgia Dome, where Mississippi State was playing the University of Alabama in a Southeastern Conference Tournament basketball game, catwalks swayed and insulation fell from the roof, sending fans fleeing toward the exits and the teams to their locker rooms.
The game was stopped with Mississippi State leading 64-61 with 2:11 left in overtime, but resumed after a delay of about an hour. Mississippi State won 69-67, but the Georgia-Kentucky game that was to have followed was postponed. SEC officials were considering a scenario that would make up the quarterfinal Saturday morning, with the winner returning later in the day to play in the semifinals.
"I thought it was a tornado or a terrorist attack," said Mississippi State guard Ben Hansbrough, who was guarding Alabama's Mykal Riley when a rumbling noise was heard from above.
Both teams stopped and looked toward the Teflon-coated Fiberglas fabric roof, which is designed to flex slightly during high wind, but was rippling heavily in the storm, much like waves rolling toward the shore.
Several fans and at least one reporter on press row said metal bolts and washers fell from the ceiling, though there were no immediate reports of injuries. A pipe ripped a hole in the roof.
There were no reports of injuries inside the stadium, Southeastern Conference associate commissioner Charles Bloom said. He said the building was deemed structurally sound when the teams resumed play, even though huge chunks or debris were piled up on the sidewalks surrounding the 70,000-seat stadium and a breeze could be felt blowing through the inside. The safety of fans returning to the dome on Saturday was a concern.
An NBA game between the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers was going on at next door at Philips Arena, which reported no major damage.
Georgia Power Co. spokeswoman Consuela Monroe said about 10,000 customers had lost power in the Atlanta area.
In East Atlanta, downed trees, debris and power lines were strewn in the street, which was eerily quiet in the wake of the pounding hail, sheets of rain, flashes of lightning and growling thunder.
Melody and Brad Sorrells were at home with their two children when the storm hit. The family was in their living room when Melody Sorrells said she heard the huge pine in their front yard crash into their house.
"I saw it falling and we ran into the back bedrooms in the closet," she said, while turning to look at the massive trunk blocking the front door. "I feel sick."
The family escaped out of the back of the house. Brad Sorrells said the winds sounded like a roaring train.
"It was a tornado," he said, with arms folded.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/ap_on_re_us/atlanta_storm
Was confirmed as a definite tornado. Scary shit, this came out of nowhere, no warning, and happened just a couple miles from my house. I'm so damn glad that my step dad didn't want fondue for dinner, because we almost went to The Melting Pot, which is right near the CNN building. We would've been right in the middle of it :/
The World Congress Center is freaking flooded and those loft apartments pancaked too- man I hope no one was inside, although it's unlikely that ALL of the tenants were out. Pretty lucky that so few were hurt, and no known deaths so far.
Streets around the Georgia Dome, the Phillips Arena, the CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park were littered with broken glass, crumbled bricks, insulation and even the occasional office chair. Billboards collapsed onto parked cars. Stunned fans from the arenas wandered through the debris in disbelief.
National Weather Service officials said a possible tornado hit downtown Atlanta, and wind was clocked at up to 60 mph as the storm moved through the city.
Most of the damage was concentrated in downtown Atlanta, Police spokesman Ronald Campbell said. He said authorities blocked off roads around the CNN Center, where heavy debris filled the streets. A chair from the skyscraper's lobby sat in the middle of the street, flanked by cars crushed by fallen debris.
Karone Edge, 23, was working out with two friends in a weight room at the Westin Hotel when he saw debris fly by the window. After watching the glass shatter in front of him, he said everyone began to run, and he fell, scraping his leg.
"I thought the building was falling like a terrorist attack," said Edge, who was walking around with a bloodied sock.
Buzz Weiss, a spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said nine people were taken to hospitals, including a firefighter. Grady Hospital, the city's large public hospital where eight of the injured were taken, had broken windows but was operating as usual.
Kendra Gerlach, spokeswoman for Atlanta Medical Center, said the hospital was treating about five patients in the emergency at around 11:45 p.m. She said each patients suffered minor injuries with only cuts, scraps and bruises.
"It's only a few, but I'm expecting to get more soon," she said.
Atlanta Fire Department Capt. Bill May said the department was working "multiple incidents" from East Atlanta to downtown. He said part of a loft apartment building collapsed, but he did not know if there were any injuries.
May said a vacant building also collapsed, with no apparent injuries. He said seven to 10 people had been taken to the hospital.
Weiss said search and rescue teams from five metro-Atlanta communities were called in as a precaution. He said the teams are equipped to handle rescues in collapsed buildings, but added that he did not yet know whether that kind of rescue would be needed.
Weiss said officials were unsure of the extent of the damage but said it"seems to be a little more widespread than it initially appeared." He said it would likely be daylight until a complete assessment could be made.
On its Web site, CNN said its headquarters building sustained ceiling damage, allowing water to pour into the atrium, and windows shattered in the CNN.com newsroom and the company's library. It also said Centennial Olympic Park was severely damaged.
At the Georgia Dome, where Mississippi State was playing the University of Alabama in a Southeastern Conference Tournament basketball game, catwalks swayed and insulation fell from the roof, sending fans fleeing toward the exits and the teams to their locker rooms.
The game was stopped with Mississippi State leading 64-61 with 2:11 left in overtime, but resumed after a delay of about an hour. Mississippi State won 69-67, but the Georgia-Kentucky game that was to have followed was postponed. SEC officials were considering a scenario that would make up the quarterfinal Saturday morning, with the winner returning later in the day to play in the semifinals.
"I thought it was a tornado or a terrorist attack," said Mississippi State guard Ben Hansbrough, who was guarding Alabama's Mykal Riley when a rumbling noise was heard from above.
Both teams stopped and looked toward the Teflon-coated Fiberglas fabric roof, which is designed to flex slightly during high wind, but was rippling heavily in the storm, much like waves rolling toward the shore.
Several fans and at least one reporter on press row said metal bolts and washers fell from the ceiling, though there were no immediate reports of injuries. A pipe ripped a hole in the roof.
There were no reports of injuries inside the stadium, Southeastern Conference associate commissioner Charles Bloom said. He said the building was deemed structurally sound when the teams resumed play, even though huge chunks or debris were piled up on the sidewalks surrounding the 70,000-seat stadium and a breeze could be felt blowing through the inside. The safety of fans returning to the dome on Saturday was a concern.
An NBA game between the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers was going on at next door at Philips Arena, which reported no major damage.
Georgia Power Co. spokeswoman Consuela Monroe said about 10,000 customers had lost power in the Atlanta area.
In East Atlanta, downed trees, debris and power lines were strewn in the street, which was eerily quiet in the wake of the pounding hail, sheets of rain, flashes of lightning and growling thunder.
Melody and Brad Sorrells were at home with their two children when the storm hit. The family was in their living room when Melody Sorrells said she heard the huge pine in their front yard crash into their house.
"I saw it falling and we ran into the back bedrooms in the closet," she said, while turning to look at the massive trunk blocking the front door. "I feel sick."
The family escaped out of the back of the house. Brad Sorrells said the winds sounded like a roaring train.
"It was a tornado," he said, with arms folded.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/ap_on_re_us/atlanta_storm
Was confirmed as a definite tornado. Scary shit, this came out of nowhere, no warning, and happened just a couple miles from my house. I'm so damn glad that my step dad didn't want fondue for dinner, because we almost went to The Melting Pot, which is right near the CNN building. We would've been right in the middle of it :/
The World Congress Center is freaking flooded and those loft apartments pancaked too- man I hope no one was inside, although it's unlikely that ALL of the tenants were out. Pretty lucky that so few were hurt, and no known deaths so far.