pic: After The Atlanta Tornado

[dangerousdave]

Originally Posted by Cartwright

I was on Wikipedia (which i know is not entirely a reliable source) and in its article on FIRST, it says that because of the effects of Atlanta's tornado, the 2008 Nationals (Championship) will be held in Las Vegas. Is this true?

C'mon, did you really need to post that obvious prank here? The sentence in Wikipedia says the GA Dome was destroyed. Please simply scroll up and look at the picture.

That sentence and many other comments in Wikipedia, should make you think about how reliable the information is that is provided there.

[iwannabeaseal]

Originally Posted by Danny McC

Well its good to know there will be no problems. Even though a hole in roof of C would look pretty cool because we'd be able to see outside from the pits.

i like the feel of natural lighting

[Marc P.]

There's a pretty good slideshow on Yahoo news here. Some of the damage to the Omni seems pretty extensive in images 16, 23, and 31. I'm sure they would have to replace furniture and carpet, paint, etc. in some of the rooms exposed to high winds and heavy rain. Hopefully everyone in Atlanta recovers quickly!

[Qbranch]

Well, you wanted a water game...

-q

[Woody1458]

I feel bad being so selfish, but I find it luky that the two building we use were the two that were least damaged.

[Coredesat]

Originally Posted by Uberbots

its wikipedia. no need to freak out- someone was probably trying to create minor confusion.

I'm an admin on Wikipedia; if an anonymous user hadn't removed it, I would have. I would chalk it up to a member of a team trying to cause some trouble. I hate to have to make that assumption but the edit was too specific for it to be a random vandal.

[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to the public are no longer valid and only individuals holding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

[shsroboticsclub]

Personally I think These repairs will be some of the fastest you have ever seen. There are MANY MANY things held in these buildings so its not just FIRST who will need it. I wouldnt be suprised if before long big companies that need the dome in the near future send money or help so that it wll be repaired byt the time they need it. So if you see FIRST's sponsors pour a bit of money into the dome you will know why.

Also Im not sure if FIRST has renewed its three year contract with the dome. That may play a role in this too.

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by Woody1458

I feel bad being so selfish, but I find it luky that the two building we use were the two that were least damaged.

There is no major visible roof damage to Building C of the GWCC (where the pits are), but we may have to swim through the pits.

[Cartwright]

I saw the wikipedia article last night after the Boilermaker Regional was over because they mentioned it in the awards ceremony and I was wondering what FIRST might have said since there was nothing on usfirst.org. Obviously somebody wants the Championship to be in Las Vegas though...strange choice.

[Dordai]

I heard from Dean himself at the awards ceremony at the Chesapeake regional that everything would be continuing on schedule for the Championship in Atlanta. He said that he was told that all of the repairs could be completed by then. That was only a day after this all happened so there could be some other undiscovered delay, but he seemed confidant that they could fix everything in time.