Atlanta tornado discussion
 

CNN reports damage to the Georgia Dome.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/0...ies&eref=yahoo

Atlanta tornado discussion
 

Just saw a short news report from CNN minutes ago stating that a possible tornado has damaged some portions of the Georgia Dome (atrium, etc...) any confirmation from other sources out there?

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

Wow it got the CNN center too. Hope they can fix this fast!!! FRC + Water = .........fail (well so far;) ) :P

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/0...ado/index.html

confirmed, saw this a couple of minutes ago too came to post and got cought up with other things...

on a lighter note, CNN would ovbiously know this...

article

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A possible tornado swept through downtown Atlanta on Friday night, disrupting a college basketball game and damaging the building that houses CNN.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for the area, in effect until 10 p.m. The storm came through at about 9:45 p.m.

Inside CNN Center, water poured through damage in the ceiling into the building's atrium. Glass shattered, and parts of the building filled with dust.

Next door at the Georgia Dome, the SEC conference basketball game between Alabama and Mississippi State was halted. The storm visibly rippled the ceiling of the dome and caused some damage, video of the arena showed. Scaffolding holding the facility's scoreboard swayed 15 minutes after the storm hit.

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

i'll have pics up in a couple mins

: no GA dome pics on CNN, only CNN Center. passable damage to Phillips Arena too

i wouldn't doubt the GWCC got hit as well

pic

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

These are preliminary reports only. Local Atlanta news reports that The GA Dome roof has held up and not torn to allow water inside. After stopping play, the SEC Basketball tournament continued but the last game has been postponed. On TV we now see water pouring down the stairs in the GA World Congress Center Building C (next months pit location) after a water main break. The dome roof catwalks were noticeably swaying around 10PM EDT. Some walls on the outside of the Dome are slightly damaged. The walkway between the old Omni Hotel and the newer one is damaged on the bottom. The Peachtree Plaza hotel has some windows blown out on the backside of it.

About 8 people taken to Grady Hospital, with one reported in critical condition.

Atlanta TV links to perhaps get updated info: WSB, WXIA, Fox 5, WGNX
Dave

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

the SEC Basketball broadcast showed damage outside the GA dome, and reported flooding in the GWCC.

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

This show a picture of damage to the main concourse. It sounds like everyone inside is OK.

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

On a side note, nobody at the peachtree regional has been harmed and the weather is fineish here.
Some reports have said that there are a lot of windows that have been blown out at the omni.

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Perhaps we'll get that water game faster than we thought...:rolleyes:

On a more serious note, I hope everything's alright up there. We just turned on CNN in our room and saw the damage and it doesn't look too good.

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Looked pretty scary on the feed I was watching at the time. Someone was kind enough to upload a video of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4K5e9wqVB8

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Last year, my husband and I had a room in the Omni Hotel that had a less than desirable view into the atrium. We couldn't even see the teams dining in the food court. When there was a thunderstorm outside, I had no clue it was happening, because there was no outside view. If a tornado like this one had struck when we were in our room, we would have known about it. :ahh:

I've long wondered if all those imposing downtown Atlanta buildings were designed to resist Georgia's violent weather. I guess now we know the answer.

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Hope all is well and no one got hurt.

If there is water.....we are ready!

www.h2orobots.org

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

I hope everyone is ok.

From what I read in the yahoo! article it doesn't seem like there is enough damage to greatly affect the Championship event.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/.../atlanta_storm

Anybody know more specifics?

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

A report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...ge_tab_newstab

Fortunately it sounds like few injuries.

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

I read somewhere about one severely injured. I hope that turns out to be wrong.

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Bill Miller mentioned this during opening ceremonies today at Pittsburgh. So far, there are limited reports of injuries. Other details are still unknown, but are being investigated at this time.

Wetzel

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

Not the best of news... :(

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Hearing there was a ridiculous amount of damage to various parts of downtown Atlanta. The Georgia Dome got off fairly lightly compared to the Georgia World Congress Center, CNN Center, and surrounding areas. The National Weather Service confirmed an EF2 tornado with max winds of 130 mph. CNN is, of course, covering this fairly extensively.

This probably won't affect the FIRST Championship event, but there might still be cleanup going on in the area by then (yes, perhaps a month from now).

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

The CNN.com article I read said that most windows on one side of the Omni hotel were shattered. I don't know how long it takes to replace that much, but it could affect team's hotel reservations.

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Well, I can confirm that it's pretty ugly in Atlanta. I was there last night, and the three hours of local news that I watched in my hotel room did not look good. A lot of the contents and pieces of the Omni hotel were in the street. Pieces of the roof and sides at Phillips arena were missing. At least one hole in the roof at the dome. A broken water line inside the GWCC somewhere was running down one of the interior staircases like a waterfall. As I went through downtown on the interstate very early this morning to get to the airport to come back home, a large swath of buildings still did not have power. Billboards and interstate exit signs were just missing. And apparently it is worse to the east of the dome area, where at least 20 houses were flattened, and a condo building collapsed. The fire department did not excpect to have the condo building structurally stabilized enough to even search until tomorrow.

Please keep all those who were injured and killed (at least one that I know of), and all those involved in the clean up, in your thoughts and prayers.

Yes, if you have reservations at the Omni you probably want to call them, but wait until Monday... They have enough problems right now, the SEC basketball tourney is this weekend (there was a game in progress when the tornado hit the dome). Not only did they lose all the glass on one side of the building, but it looked like the ceiling tiles and insulation, along with some of the chairs, lamps, etc, were sucked out. Hopefully they will have it fixed in a month, but there is a lot of work to do.

Oh, yea, the Westin Peachtree Plaza (the tall round hotel with the outside glass elevator) has a bunch of windows out, too, so if you are staying there you might also want to check with them.

And, also, the Peachtree Regional is this weekend on the northeast side of ATL, and then NWS just issued a tornado warning for a couple miles north of the regional site.

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

This is a crazy Video, I've walked where he is walking many times, though when I walk through it there's not 7 inches of water....
Good thing Championship isn't like next week.

I feel terrible for the people affected by this storm. I hope everything turns out as good as it can for this type of disaster.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MZnlpb...eature=related

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Weather Channel is showing possible baseball size hail in the same area in downtown Atlanta again. A tornado warning was just issued for the area of the Peachtree Regional.

And apparently the weather has crashed the scoring computer at the regional, resulting in about a 3 hour delay and they are scoring the elim matches manually.

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

There was an announcement about this at SVR, and I suspect at other regionals as well because they said it came from FIRST HQ. Basically, they said there had been a tornado and that FIRST was monitoring the situation, blah blah blah. The damage wasn't even severe enough to stop the NCAA game (only delay it), so I can't imagine it'll affect the Championships, but...

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Having just returned home to suburban Atlanta from the Peachtree Regional, I think there were other reasons that the scoring system crashed but that is only a guess. This resulted in about a 3 hour delay as Jeff said. The elimination matches were scored manually. Once everything got started the volunteer staff did a fantastic job!

One of the many volunteers, Ryan Stewart, did a great job announcing the time left for every elimination match at 15 second intervals, including counting down from 15 to 0 seconds in each match. He will need to rest his voice over the next few days along with the team announcer, Troy.

It was also kind of funny when the final few matches were being scored. The final score and penalties were being manually typed in. Team members were trying to sneak a peak at the score on the small LCD screen prior to it being posted on the big screen. The staff held up a large black piece of fabric in front of the scoring table to keep prying eyes away.

Each match was started with a checkered flag being waved.

There apparently was very bad weather including hail passing by the competition but most of us didn't notice it. It was nice outside after the awards were announced.
Dave

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

Actually, the damage was fairly bad, and that game should have been stopped. The only reason it was continued was because the SEC is under a time constraint to get its tournament finished before the NCAA announces its selections for the tournament - the remaining games were moved to a different location as the NCAA deemed the Georgia Dome unsafe. Just outside the Georgia Dome there was quite a bit of damage, and there have been numerous reports of baseball-size hail in the area today.

Re: Possible tornado damage to Georgia Dome tonight...
 

I hope that they have a plan b because this may not end pretty. The georgia dome was hit hard, the fact that there was a tornado in a downtown area should say something.

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

does anyone have an accurate report? We heard so many stories in the pits today... you know, the game of telephone. Any locals who can personally attest to how bad the damage is?

these are the best photos i've found: http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view...windstorm0314/

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

From what I have seen from the Storm Prediction Center and the National Weather Service, an EF-2 tornado with maximum winds of 130 mph struck downtown Atlanta on Friday night. Saturday saw more severe weather with reports of baseball-sized hail in various areas. Damage estimates are $150-200 million; including damage to the Georgia Dome, Georgia World Congress Center, CNN Center, Philips Arena, and various hotels; downtown Atlanta has been declared a state disaster area. Several injuries but thankfully no fatalities in the Atlanta area.

Several people were hurt and one person was killed in tornadoes that spawned from the same storm system, in eastern Georgia and South Carolina.

The basketball games scheduled to be played at the Georgia Dome were moved to Georgia Tech as the Georgia Dome was deemed to be unsafe for the players and fans.

Lengthy report from CNN here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/15/sto...nta/index.html

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

We were updated today between some matches (or during one of the ceramonies, I don't remember) that FIRST is in touch with Georgia Dome officials, and they will monitor the situation and keep us updated.

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

Here is a response I got from the Westin about the hotel situation:

Atlanta?
 

Is the championship still going to be held in Atlanta, I heard storms have past through and damaged the area?

just wondering if anyone could shed some light in this matter.

Re: Atlanta?
 

As far as we know the Championship will still be held in Atlanta. As far as I know FIRST has not stated otherwise.

Re: Atlanta?
 

There are a few threads regarding this topic in CD.
This is a post that KTorak has taken the time to post in the different threads.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=22

btw, thank you Kyle, for posting the info.
Jane

Re: Atlanta?
 

No problem. I figured I should go ahead and get the information I could before a hundred different rumors begin.

Re: Atlanta?
 

The first thing that has to happen is that structural and HVAC engineers among others need to assess the damage and how long it will take to fix. They can then consult with the GWCC management to see which events must be canceled or sent elsewhere. That will take until Monday at the earliest to get good numbers and information on lead times. It might actually take a few more days than that.

Meanwhile FIRST HQ will be scrambling to find potential alternate sites. But many sites are booked months in advance and there will be significant logistical issues involved with going to a new location. Even if they find a site they won't announce it until the contract has been signed and that will probably take at least a week to negotiate.


Bottom line I wouldn't even expect an announcement until Tuesday and more likely Tuesday the 25th. I know everybody will be anxious until then but sometimes you just can't rush things.

Re: Atlanta?
 

As many would understandably know, the situation in Atlanta is a pressing issue for FIRST and the many FRC, FTC, FLL, and JFLL teams attending. And there are a lot of people currently following the situation closely.

However, there are five current threads on this topic, including this one.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=65863
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=65860
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=65861
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=65892

Can a moderator please merge all five of these threads into a single thread, to make it easier for everyone to keep track of any and all updates to the situation in Atlanta?

Thanks!

Re: Atlanta?
 

more than likely the event will still be held at the georgia dome/GWCC C.
The repairs there couldnt take more than a couple of weeks, considering the importance of these 2 buildings to the city.

Re: Atlanta?
 

I was wondering, is that an unprecedented incident ?
Does anyone know anything about it ?

Re: Atlanta?
 

Don't remember which article I read it in, but it is supposedly the first recorded tornado to strike downtown Atlanta.

Re: Atlanta?
 

It was in the caption to this picture, posted by dangerousdave.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/30998?

Re: Atlanta?
 

Official status is being posted here:

http://www.gwcc.com

and here:

http://www.gadome.com

Update To Downtown Atlanta Situation
 

Here is an update to venues in downtown Atlanta that we are hearing about on our drive into work today (Monday morning).

• Nobody was killed downtown however, 2 people died in other GA counties. Had the SEC Basketball Tournament not gone to overtime, many more thousands of people would have been outside when the tornado hit
• The GA Dome (competition venue) is working to get the building ready for Easter Sunday services which can hopefully be held
• The Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) has canceled or postponed events through the end of March. For those that do not know, this is where the "pits" are located each year
• Exhibitors that had displays in the GWCC during the storm have still not been allowed back into the building to break down their displays
• IMHO, the GWCC buildings will be the only venue that MAY not be ready for the Championship event. Again, I stress MAY not be ready. These buildings bring in millions of dollars in trade shows etc
• CNN Center food court is open today
• The GA Aquarium and World of Coke are open
• Approximately $200+ million in damage to downtown Atlanta
• People are being encouraged to stay out of the downtown area if they do not work in that area. In other words, gawkers stay home
• A few downtown streets are closed due to glass that may still may fall from buildings that have not been boarded up or had the glass replaced
• Downtown hotels are open with a small number of rooms damaged after the windows were blown out

Moderators, I second the motion to combining the threads if possible on the Atlanta Tornado so there can be a centralized thread for info. There are at least 4 in the General, Championship & Extra Discussion forums.

Dave

Re: Atlanta?
 

FIRST has updated their home page with a new announcement as of 2pm on 3/17, essentially saying to "stay tuned for more info" as they figure out what the impact of the natural disaster will be upon the Championship Event.

The direct link to the FIRST page with the announcement is http://www.usfirst.org/who/content.aspx?id=8626

Quoted below for convenience:

Re: Atlanta?
 

Im sure FIRST HQ has been incredibly busy (and anxious for any decisions), and its great that they plan to keep us up to date...

But I had a thought... have any of the mentors, senior mentors, or anyone checked into if there is anything we as FIRST teams can do? Many of us have flights booked down Wednesday morning or leave late Sunday or monday, and could easily spend a bunch of our free time helping cleanup, do rebuilding, or whatever they need volunteer efforts at. With probably the largest organization of technical people, and volunteering students that will descend upon Atlanta, I have to believe there is something we can do to help :)

I'd be willing to make some contacts, but I really dont know who I would talk to, I thought maybe some of the senior mentors might have more of an "In" as to what is going on or who we might talk to without bugging people.

Re: Atlanta?
 

The hard part about this is managing the people who would help to ensure the volunteer work is done correctly. Perhaps we can ask FIRST if they could figure out some way that FIRST can manage our efforts in conjunction with GWCC personel. As a start, we could rotate in shifts of volunteers in small groups from teams with the caveat that at least one mentor from the team a student is on accompanies the student (liability here). FIRST volunteers would only be allowed to do small tasks. While we may be capable of doing the hard, technical, and skill crafts, it is not us who signs the dotted line saying the work is performed professionally...so more than likely any actual rebuilding will still have to be done via contracts.

This may be stretching it, but it is one way to allow us to volunteer for the GWCC while the championships are going on.

Re: Atlanta?
 

Yeah, I wasnt really talking about building new buildings or replacing windows or anything, I was more thinking on the lines of cleaning up debris (if any is still left) or replanting flowerbeds. Plus if there are skilled laborers (I know many engineers and parents that volunteer for Habitat or other things as skilled labor) then they could offer to help with any rebuilding. I just dont know what is needed or what opportunities are out there, and thats more what I was getting at. I think organizations like the Red Cross and the National Guard or FEMA have the people to manage the efforts needed, often they just need bodies to hand out food, clean up debris, etc.

Offer To Help Clean Up or Rebuild
 

I think you have a great heart and this is a good suggestion.

What I state here is strictly my opinion and I do not have contacts in the building field.

My guess is that by the time that the first "First" people arrive around April 16th, the majority of the major venues & hotels downtown will be back operating "almost" normally. Perhaps the one exception to that will be the Georgia World Congress Center. I don't think that the insurance industry or contractors will allow students to work on or around the major buildings.

What might be needed is to help clean up and provide basic work on low income homes that were destroyed in the storm. It appears that there were at least 50 Atlanta homes damaged in the storm. One problem might be transportation to those areas although they are not too far from the First venues.

Some residential areas that were hard hit are Cabbagetown & Vine City. Right now on the local news, we are watching a group of teenagers from Kansas City, Kansas, here for another reason, helping to clean up what is left of people's homes.

It is nice to hear about the young people helping out and offering to help out.

Dave

Re: Atlanta?
 

Our head mentor contacted first, inquiring what was going to happen in light of the tornados.

FIRST essentially said to them that the event is being held in the Georgia Dome no matter what, even if we have to have tents covering the pit area (unlikely, but a possibility looking at the state of GWCCC)

Re: Atlanta?
 

On that note, I don't know if FIRST has considered this or not, but the tunnel under the stands of the GA dome would be large enough to hold all the pits if they were built along the walls. We did this at Mayhem not too long ago where we had the pits in a hallway, and it works quite well. Furthermore, the wait time between matches would be shorter and the time in the pits would be longer because the walk is so short! By rough calculations (from the internet the GA dome is about 840feet in diameter) so assuming the tunnel is about 800ft in diameter you could fit 314 8x8 pits-ish. Along the opposite wall they could accommodate any extra teams, and such. I am pretty sure there is a PA system in the tunnel for the pit admins, and there must be plenty of power outlets.
Who knows?
Just an Idea...

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

Looks like possible good news for FIRST

http://www.gwcc.com/

Re: Possible tornado hits Atlanta
 

Good news indeed, especially if you follow the links. The Propane Gas Assoc is being moved to GWCC-C, and the Window Coverings Expo notes that Building C was least damaged. Even some photos taken yesterday (3/18).

:) :yikes: :D

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

I've combined as many of the threads on this subject as I have power over into this one. I apologize that the merge makes things a bit messy, but please keep all discussion related to these events here.

Thanks.

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

Well, the Westin emailed me back again and said they will be full operational in 3 weeks or less.

Re: Atlanta?
 

the liability with that is insane (i do habitat for humanity, and there's like a 1 to 5 ratio of adults to kids, followed by a ton of forms you have to sign, and thats for construction which is a lot safer than debris fields). But, I did email first last sunday with my own suggestion. I suggested that they donate money (since money comes liability free for the most part) to the families (lets face it, the GWWC can get along just fine) who lost their homes. I figure, since they give us a home every year, it's only fair we help them out a bit. We wouldn't be able to rebuild downtown Atlanta, but what we'd be able to do is give back the community a bit of hope, and hopefully spark other organizations to donate time, money, supplies, etc.

edit: oh, my idea was that teams could all donate the money they'd spend on buttons/other give aways. Or, anything that the teams could spare this season. And then have FIRST itself donate, and encourage their big sponsors in the area to donate as well. (i'm sure they'd all jump on the PR bandwagon)


double edit:
I have CNN on, and they showed the atrium, and it was flooded out. They apparently have a hole in their roof, and it was raining really bad.

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

An update today (March 19) from AJC, ACVB, WSB TV and myself.

• The Georgia World Congress Center, one of the building's hardest hit by Friday's tornado, will get back to business next week. This announcement reflects the tremendous progress that has been made throughout Atlanta over the past five days since a series of severe storms struck the city on Friday evening. The meetings will be held in Building C, the least damaged of the three buildings that make up the almost 4 million-square-foot convention center, said Mark Zimmerman, the GWCC's general manager. Getting the GWCC in shape to accommodate the two conventions also helped hospitality leaders boast that no big shows have been lost because of the storm.
  
  
• Home Depot is announcing today that it is giving a $250,000 grant to the Vine City Health and Housing Ministry to help the intown community recover from the tornado that hit last Friday evening.
  
  
• The Westin Peachtree Plaza
  The tornado that left rubble scattered across downtown Atlanta and other neighborhoods was so powerful it caused the hotel, one of the world's tallest, to sway up to two feet, according to the structural engineer who helped design the building. Winds that night were estimated at 130 mph. "The building could easily take that kind of force and was designed to do just that. About 175 windows shattered and will be covered with plywood until the glass can be repaired. This could take up to 4-8 weeks as the glass for most downtown buildings has to be specially made and there is of course a big demand.
  
  
• One of the stories that has really touched people is that of a puppy lost and found in the Atlanta tornado wreckage. Three-month-old Jackson got stuck inside the damaged Cotton Mill Condos in Cabbagetown after Friday's storm. His owner's are overjoyed to have him back after a firefighter made one last sweep and spotted the puppy underneath a couch.
  
  
• Atlanta city officials are still encouraging people to stay away from downtown Atlanta if at all possible because of falling glass.
  
  
• Rain water fell into CNN Center on Wednesday through the storm damaged roof. However, the building remained open and people simply walked around the tarps on the floor.
  
  
• Thanks very much to these organizations who provided assistance to the people of Atlanta. The Salvation Army provided meals to the people in need, the police & firefighters. The Red Cross provided shelters for those people who found their home unlivable or destroyed.
  
  
• IMHO, the Atlanta Police & Firefighters did a fantastic job in protecting people, directing traffic, keeping people out of harms way and keeping everybody as calm as possible.
  
  
• The city did remarkably well, but it was nothing short of a miracle that nobody was killed and more people weren’t seriously injured. There were more than 15,000 people in the GA Dome when the tornado passed within 100 yards of the building.
  
  Dave

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

An update today, March 21 - A slow news day for storm related stories.

• Centennial Olympic Park, is set to re-open Saturday. Workers used gloved hands, rakes, brooms, vacuums and street sweepers a little larger than golf carts to remove finger nail-sized bits of glass that fell from the CNN Center. The area around the "Fountain of Rings" will remain closed because of safety concerns but they expect that to open in a few days.
  
  
• Easter Sunday service will be held at the Georgia Dome as planned.
  
  
• Work crews are still working to repair the CNN Center atrium, which means the food court area will remain closed on Saturday. It will reportedly reopen Monday.
  
  
• Federal money is now being made available after President Bush declared parts of tornado-ravaged Atlanta a disaster area. This includes downtown where the cleanup is starting to gain momentum.
  
  
• Fortunately, the Georgia Aquarium and the new World of Coke did not suffer any damage and are open.
  
  
• MARTA has reopened two entrances at Peachtree Center rail station. Rail service to the station has resumed. All rail & bus service is running normally.
  
  
• On a lighter note: About 36,000 boxes of Thin Mints, Tagalongs and Samoas were stacked at the Georgia World Congress Center when the storm hit last weekend. The Girl Scout cookies were spared, but with the Home Show canceled because of damage to the convention center the Scouts find themselves scrambling to sell their cookie collection. :ahh:

Dave

Body found in tornado rubble; Atlanta's 1st death
 

A Sad Update Today, March 22:

• Workers clearing rubble from last week's tornado discovered the body of a man on Saturday buried in bricks from a building off Hilliard Street. Police say the man may be Atlanta's first fatality of the storm.
  
  
• One week after severe storms struck downtown Atlanta, Centennial Olympic Park reopens today, March 22. Despite the force of the storms, the Park will be able to resume day to day operations as downtown’s community gathering space and lasting legacy of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.
  
  
• Traffic Update: Some downtown traffic lights are still non-functional. All exit and entrance ramps to the 75/85 will be open.
  
  
• Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs: Worked with the Red Cross to provide a shelter at Central Park Recreation Center.
  
  
• Department of Public Works: 200 individual traffic signals have been replaced or repaired and 150 still need repair. The City of Atlanta strongly encourages media, government officials and all operational staff to wear hard hats while conducting assessments of storm damage.
  
  
• Atlanta Police Department: About 30 injuries in total; one firefighter injured. At least a dozen additional buildings have been identified with glass hazards; in addition to the many landmark buildings in the downtown area.

Source: AJC & Mayors Office

Also, I have made 3 initial contacts concerning "Kims Robot" and others, request of asking how First can help the people of Atlanta. So far, I have not received a response but will keep you advised.

Dave

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

thanks for these updates dave!

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

I was downtown this morning when traffic is exceptionally light. The Aquarium, World of Coke looked normal, and the Centennial Park was back in business. The Westin Omni was wierd looking with the missing glass, especially up and down the outside elevator shaft.

The side of CNN facing the park was missing a lot of glass. The street in front, Marietta, St, is closed for a few blocks. The other sides of CNN was normal looking. There was a line of people at the Phillips Arena for some event.

I had to swing around the dome and down Northside right in front of the GWCC building C to finish my errands.

At least from the street the Dome seems to look more or less normal. But they are replacing a LOT of glass on the front of building C where that huge lobby is. I didn't realize how much glass that building lost. But I'm sure things will be normal in that building fairly soon.

Except for a couple of blocks of Marietta St. being closed and all the glass being replaced there seemed to be a sense of normalcy settling in.

Of course I wasn't in the interior sections. The company I worked for a few years ago took a direct tornado hit. It was amazing how dark, wet, and dangerous the place became.

There are a lot of hardhats on the job there and I'm sure they will be done soon.

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

This article was in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/meetings0324.html

We may not be out of the woods yet...

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

i remember back in 2006 reading something along the liens of

"FIRST is not responsible for any natural acts of god or any disasters preventing a competition from taking place. all payments are nonrefundable"

my mentor read it from the computer screen and we all laughed...(a little immoral because it was like 3 months after Katrina, but we've all grown up now haven't we?)

my question is... has anyone heard of this and is this still there somewhere in FIRST documents?

P.S. sorry for playing the role of devils advocate...

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

I wouldn't be a bit surprised by a fine print detail like that.

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

That article seems almost self-contradictory. It implies that the Championship is in danger of being canceled, but later goes on to say how Building C is going to reopen this week. Seems kind of strange to me...

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

A reason behind this has to do alot with what may be meant by "open". If a company board meeting only needs a single room in an "undamaged" section of the building that could be considered open, while FIRST or a trade show normally uses quite a bit of space there, which could result in the postponing or cancellation of that specific event. We all just have to wait for an offical announcment from the GWCC/Georgia Dome and FIRST to confirm event details.

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

It's still there, slightly reworded and in a slightly different context:

"FIRST is not responsible for cancellations or the inability of a team to travel due to weather, threat of terrorism, act of God and other events beyond FIRST's control."

It's part of the Refund Policy. This is a normal sort of legal disclaimer; I've seen it in many places. (Read your car or home insurance policies for examples.) FIRST doesn't include riots, insurrections, or wars, as I have seen elsewhere, but the phrase about "other events" would cover these items as well.

Of course this phrasing does make sense--no one wants to be held responsible for the results of events for which they are not responsible!

I'm sure the Georgia World Congress Center writes similar phrases into all its contracts. Regarding the impact on the Championship, here are my thoughts:

Although the GWCC Hall C is in better shape than the other halls, this does not guarantee that it will be available to FIRST. The GWCC decision makers must minimize losses. From a business perspective, this means that they must first of all accommodate the clients who spend the most money. As large as the Championship seems to us, the pits only occupy part of Hall C. If a larger group (whose members spend freely on food, drink, and utilities) is planning to use all of Hall B, and it's still being repaired, the GWCC could decide to minimize losses by moving that group to Hall C and booting FIRST out, or by squeezing the pits into an uncomfortable space. One would hope that the contract would prevent such a move, and/or that the GWCC would try to minimize negative publicity by avoiding such actions.

Based on the news reports I've been reading, I believe that the GWCC folks will try their best to accommodate as many of its clients as it can, including FIRST. But who knows how quickly the buildings will be repaired?

If, in spite of our hopes, the Championship does not take place, no one will be able to blame either FIRST or the GWCC, because the tornado wasn't their fault. But I think there is reason to hope that things will be worked out satisfactorily.

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

It seems to me that the FTC and/or FLL events could be accommodated by a large hotel or numerous other facilities. FRC is another matter.

Also, I cannot understand why they do not keep us better informed. Both of the two large conventions that will be held had daily updates on their web sites which detailed the current situation. Why can't FIRST operate in a similar manner?

--Bill Wiley
Coach
FTC 14 - Vexy Things
FTC 13 - ACME Robotics - Sand Crawlers
FTC 12 - ACME Robotics - Weather Makers

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

What sort of "daily updates" do you expect?

"Day nine: we are in contact with GWCC management."
"Day ten: we are waiting for GWCC management to make a firm commitment."
"Day eleven: we are waiting for GWCC management to make a firm commitment."
"Day twelve: we are waiting for GWCC management to make a firm commitment."

FIRST shouldn't put out information based on rumors, wishful thinking, or unofficial expectations. When there is news, there will be an update.

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

I think it is entirely reasonable to expect that FIRST indicate what factors are prolonging this decision and when they anticipate making one. If nothing has changed day-to-day, then they can say that too.

As I mentioned, I also see the possibility of holding FLL and FRC elsewhere. I think that they should publicly address whether this is possible and whether they are making contingency plans.

As it stands, the price of air fares for our team has risen by $1400 while we wait.

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

I'm sure (well, hoping) there are contingency plans in place.

Such as last year when the wrap party was held in the GWCC because of the rain outside. Reservations for something like that aren't made a day or two out because the weather looks bad; rather they have (or at least should) be part of Plan B (or C) all along.

I'd imagine that would be much more likely to rent out the giant tents (a la back in the Disney days) if there really would be an issue with space in GWCC Building C. (Sure it might take some maneuvering to get them there on such a short notice (only a month), but I'm sure it could be done if FIRST is tenacious enough.) Then, as much non-critical stuff as possible would be moved out Building C, leaving just the pits, practice fields, and pit admin. These are critical, and must remain on the same floor as the GA Dome floor, unless we want to resurrect the ramps of doom. :ahh:

And I really don't see the need to host FTC and FLL events elsewhere; the GA Dome is probably the least damaged building, and it's not critical that FTC or FLL teams' pits are on the same floor as the GA Dome floor. You could just put a tent in the courtyard, and have all their pits there, and have them walk down the stairs outside the GA Dome to the lower entrance,

Remember, while the Championship Event may include msotly FRC robots, there is a reason why it's called the FIRST Championship Event and not FRC Championship Event. There's no need to jip FTC and FLL teams of their chance enjoy the spotlight and to compete in the GA Dome alongside everyone else just so FRC can selfishly take over.


Edit: After looking over the info from the GWCC link Karen posted above, it would seem to me that FIRST would remain as one of the high priority events, since it would be considered an "international sporting event" drawing a lot of people (30,000+) in from outside Atlanta and Georgia (read: they want to you pump $$$ into their local economy), all potentially booked for 3-5 days of hotel rooms in the greater Atlanta area.

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

New update with good news:

http://www.usfirst.org/who/content.aspx?id=8626

"The FIRST Championship Schedule & Agenda
FIRST has been advised that all events will occur as previously scheduled. The originally scheduled dates and agenda for the Championship will not change.

The Georgia Dome
The damage done to the Georgia Dome will be repaired prior to the Championship.

The Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC)
FIRST is working with the GWCC management to house our events, meetings, conferences, etc. inside the available space in the GWCC. Details on locations for various events will be published as soon as they are finalized with the GWCC."

Re: Atlanta tornado discussion
 

hey. i know many teams mentioned the omni hotel. Here is a bulletin from their website.

Travel Advisory Notice:
The Omni Hotel at CNN Center is open following the tornado that swept through downtown Atanta on March 14, 2008 near Centennial Olympic Park. Our primary concern is our guests' safety, security, and comfort. Guests with confirmed reservations may call our toll-free number for an update and the status of your reservation.
For more information,
please call 888-444-OMNI (6664).


thought this might help teams who have reservations there.

Re: Volunteer Work
 

I have found very little new information concerning the state of downtown Atlanta in the past week. The good news of course, is that the Championship event will be held as scheduled.

To "Kims Robot" and many others who have responded here or via a message to me, I unfortunately have not had any luck with my 3 contacts. Yesterday, I received a response from the Atlanta Habitat For Humanity Special Events Manager. He advised me that Unfortunately, we do not have any volunteer opportunities available for groups during that time frame.

One of my other contacts has yet to respond to me so I will pass this on as I think it is the best contact. Hands On Atlanta appears to be the primary contact for the downtown rebuilding effort, so perhaps someone else on CD can get a response.

Dave

Atlanta - 3 Weeks After The Tornado
 

The state of the city of Atlanta, 3 weeks after the tornado and some other Atlanta info can be found in this Mayor's Office newsbyte. Everyone have a safe trip to and from Atlanta.
Dave