[FTC]: Tornado Slams Georgia Dome

[Overyourhead]

Heres the story from CNN.com.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/15/sto...nta/index.html

Here is the Video of the CNN Report.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/...f=mpvideosview


Lucky there were no deaths. My best wishes go out the the citizens from Atlanta. I hope everything can be fixed, by April. *Crosses Fingers*


ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Utility and clean up crews on Saturday morning worked to repair traffic lights, remove fallen trees and haul away tons of debris left on downtown Atlanta streets when a tornado swept through the city.
art.damage.cnn.jpg

Debris from Friday night's tornado litters the street outside CNN Center.


Nearby, trees crushed a row of houses in the city's historic Cabbagetown district just east of downtown.

With daylight Saturday morning, firefighters were getting a better look at Cabbagetown's row houses. Initial estimates from the mayor's office said at least 20 of the historic homes were damaged or destroyed by the storm.

The top floor collapsed at one building in the Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts, a 104-year-old industrial complex redeveloped into residences.

Police officials said at daybreak Saturday that everyone was out of the structure and surrounding buildings and all residents in the lofts had been accounted for.

About 13,000 residents in the downtown area were without power Saturday morning, Georgia Power reported. Earlier, 15,000 had lost electricity.

Part of the city's MARTA mass-transit rail system was shut down because of damage east of downtown.

Witnesses compared downtown Atlanta to a war zone Friday night, with glass from high-rise windows littering the streets along with roofing debris and fallen trees and branches.

Although tens of thousands of people were in the path of the storm -- many in town for a major college basketball tournament -- there were no known deaths and just one life-threatening injury Friday night, police said.

About 30 people -- one of them a firefighter -- were treated at hospitals, mostly for minor cuts, scrapes and bruises, police said.
Don't Miss

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said emergency officials determined that it was a tornado that ripped through the heart of her city. Video Watch the mayor describe the damage »

The storm struck the 71,000-seat Georgia Dome at 9:45 p.m. during a Southeastern Conference tournament basketball game. It shattered windows and tore roofs from buildings -- including CNN Center -- before continuing into several residential neighborhoods.

Just nine hours after the Friday night storm, another severe weather system blew through metro Atlanta, and more were off to the west and headed for the city, CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf said.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning Saturday morning for an area just east of Atlanta.

A tornado warning was in effect when Friday night's storm struck. The storm tracked from the northwest side of the city to the southeast, demolishing buildings and downing trees that crushed cars and ripped through the roofs of homes.

Mahsud Olufani, an Atlanta painter and sculptor with a studio in Cabbagetown, said, "It looks like a bomb went off, it looks like World War III."

A gaping hole could be seen in the 14th floor of a high-rise dorm at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta. Students were evacuated from the area on buses. Photo See photos of the destruction »

Thousands of basketball fans attending the Southeastern Conference tournament were at least temporarily displaced. The storm interrupted a game between Alabama and Mississippi State.

"It was actually in overtime, and the game was getting exciting, and I thought people from the Alabama side were hitting the bleachers trying to get some noise going," said basketball fan Lucas Shields. "All of a sudden the TV went out, the overhead clock stopped working, and you hear that distinctive noise of a train."

Amanda Reimann, an iReporter and University of Georgia cheerleader, said she and her teammates heard a loud noise.

"It sounded like the fans were banging on the seats or stomping their feet, but it kept up and got a lot louder," she said. "Then the ceiling of the Dome started waving, the giant TV screens were waving, and light fixures and dust started falling.

"My teammates and I thought it was a bomb but our coach came running for us and a security guy and said it was a tornado. We all ran for the locker room." Video Watch what happened inside the dome »

The game resumed about an hour later, but a later game between Kentucky and Georgia was postponed.

A professional basketball game at Philips Arena next door was not disrupted, but the thousands attending that game also had to make their way home through the storm debris.

Police closed several streets in the vicinity of CNN Center because of glass and other debris. Two of Centennial Olympic Park's towering Olympic torches were toppled and a performance pavilion was destroyed.

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

Virtually all of the windows facing Centennial Olympic Park on the Omni Hotel, which is adjacent to CNN Center, were shattered, leaving curtains flapping in the darkened windows. Visitors to the hotel were moved to the facility's exhibition hall at street level.

Windows also shattered in the CNN.com newsroom. Staffers said a computer was missing -- apparently sucked through one of the windows. CNN's library was also damaged.

Slabs of metal and insulation material were strewn on the streets outside. Cars and emergency vehicles were scattered among the debris as hundreds of people, wandered around talking on cell phones.

Heaps of bricks and drywall were pushed up against cars. Street signs were bent in half.
advertisement

At the neighboring Georgia World Congress Center, the storm blew down a wall, breaking a water line and allowing water to pool ankle deep inside the building.

The city's St. Patrick's Day celebration and the SEC parade set for Saturday morning were canceled. SEC tournament games were to be moved to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech in Atlanta's undamaged Midtown area.

[KTorak]

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

Last night Downtown was hit by a tornado resulting in some damage to
the downtown convention corridor. The storms were linear and thankfully,
the damaged areas are minimal. However, we are still assessing the
damage surrounding the Georgia World Congress Center campus.

The remaining games of the SEC Championship have been relocated to the
Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Georgia Tech. Tickets sold
to the public are no longer valid and only individuals holding
credentials will be admitted to the games. Several downtown hotels have
set up viewing screens in their lobbies. Many of the fans have returned
home.

The Hinman Dental convention ended today. Most conventions have left or
are on their way home. Exhibitors have not moved out of the Georgia
World Congress Center and are not being allowed to enter the facility.
Hinman will work with the Georgia World Congress Center on timing and
safety for the breakdown of exhibits.

Our hotels experienced little or no damage. The Omni Hotel at CNN Center
is fully operational with the exception of 467 rooms located in the
South Tower, which will reopen in two weeks. The building has been
declared structurally sound and all guest rooms in the North Tower, all
meeting space, the lobby and restaurant are operating. The Westin
Peachtree Plaza experienced damage to less than 15 hotel rooms and is
fully operational.

Attractions were not affected. The Georgia Aquarium, New World of
Coca-Cola and Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta are open for
business. The CNN Center sustained minor damage to the roof, which was
repaired this afternoon. The food court at CNN Center and the Inside CNN
Studio Tour will reopen on Monday.

Georgia World Congress Center Authority officials confirmed storm damage
to all three venues, including the Georgia World Congress Center,
Centennial Olympic Park and the Georgia Dome. Assessment of the damage
is ongoing and an update will be provided on Monday, March 17. Until
that time, all three venues will be closed to the public.

We are looking at the schedule for shows coming to Atlanta in the
immediate future. Once we receive a structural update from GWCC, we will
address each of these groups on an individual basis. At this time, we do
not have plans to relocate business outside of Atlanta.

We will be certain to communicate with you as we receive additional
information. Please look to hear from us again in the next few days with
additional information. Thank you in advance for your partnership and
work to help us minimize the effects of this storm on our business.

Sincerely,


Spurgeon Richardson
President and CEO
Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau

[Overyourhead]

Thanks so much for the info. If they send you any updates about the Dome and centennial Park can you post it here again.
Thanks Again

[KTorak]

Will do.

[KathieK]

FIRST has released a statement on their website. Keep checking there for further information as they receive it.