Atlanta tornado discussion

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by Kims Robot

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

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.

[Kims Robot]

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.

[dangerousdave]

Originally Posted by Kims Robot

....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 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

[Uberbots]

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)

[evanisthat!]

Originally Posted by Uberbots

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)

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...

[DRH2o]

Looks like possible good news for FIRST

http://www.gwcc.com/

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by DRH2o

Looks like possible good news for FIRST

http://www.gwcc.com/

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).

[Madison]

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.

[KTorak]

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

[Chrisms]

Originally Posted by Kims Robot

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

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:

Originally Posted by dangerousdave

CNN Center food court is open today

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.

[dangerousdave]

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

[dangerousdave]

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.

Dave

[dangerousdave]

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

[cziggy343]

thanks for these updates dave!

[ebarker]

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.