Atlanta Tornado?

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
Who's from Atlanta? Has anyone heard how bad things are there? I caught a blurb on the news last night that a possible tornado touched down. From the pictures I saw it looked like a mess. SENDING WISHES AND PRAYERS THAT ALL ARE WELL!!!!!!!
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
They aren't exactly sure if it was a tornado, or just strong winds. They hit downtown Atlanta last night and caused a lot of damage, tearing off a few roofs and knocking out a lot of windows. Most of the damage is downtown around the Georgia Dome, Atlanta Arena, and the CNN area.(CNN Center, maybe a real Act of God). Miracle only about a dozen people had injuries. There was an Atlanta Hawks and also a SEC College game going on. The SEC went into overtime, so all these fans weren't out in the street when the winds hit. There was a lot of glass and debris thrown around. A lot of Saturday Events are canceled, we are waiting on a second wave of storms to hit this afternoon. My son is taking a girl to her Senior Prom At Turner Field tonight, that area is a couple of miles south of the damaged areas.
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
Thanks Scratch, for the info. Thank God no one was seriously injured or killed. Please keep us posted on what's happening. D
 

Channahon

Well-Known Member
Georgia Storms Kill 2 After Atlanta Tornado

ATLANTA (CBS News) ― Officials in Polk County have confirmed at least two deaths resulting from Saturday's severe weather.

CBS Affiliate WGCL reports that a person died on Bon Loop Road, but they could not confirm whether the person died in a house. The location of the second fatality has not been confirmed.

Also in Polk County, railroad traffic has been stopped due to trees that have been blown down onto the tracks.

The severe weather system stretching through Alabama and into Georgia follows Friday tornado that caught Atlanta residents by surprise.

That storm smashed hundreds of skyscraper windows, blew furniture and luggage out of hotel rooms, crumbled part of an apartment building and rattled a packed sports arena.

National Weather Service meteorologist Barry Gooden said the tornado that swept through downtown Atlanta on Friday night produced winds up to 110 miles an hour - making it a strength EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

It then grew into an EF2 tornado. He said the weather service describes such a tornado as having winds up to 135 miles an hour, ultimately carving a six-mile long path.

Streets around the Georgia Dome, Phillips Arena, the CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park were littered with broken glass, downed power lines, crumbled bricks, insulation and the occasional office chair. Billboards collapsed onto parked cars.

CNN says its headquarters building sustained ceiling damage that allowed water to pour into the atrium, and windows were shattered in the CNN.com newsroom and the company's library. A water line inside the building broke, turning a staircase into a waterfall.

"It was crazy. There was a lot of windows breaking and stuff falling," said Terrence Evans, a valet who was about to park a car at the Omni Hotel when the twister hit.

Although a tornado warning was issued, there was no announcement of the approaching storm for the 18,000 fans inside the Georgia Dome for the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament. The first sign was rumbling and the rippling of the fabric roof.

Catwalks swayed and insulation rained down on players during overtime of the Mississippi State-Alabama game, sending fans fleeing toward the exits and the teams to their locker rooms.

"I thought it was a tornado or a terrorist attack," said Mississippi State guard Ben Hansbrough, whose team won 69-67 after an hour-long delay under a roof with at least two visible tears. A later game between Georgia and Kentucky was postponed. SEC officials said the tournament's remaining games would be played at Georgia Tech.

"Ironically, the guy behind me got a phone call saying there was a tornado warning," fan Lisa Lynn said. "And in two seconds, we heard the noise and things started to shake. It was creepy."

At least 27 people were hurt Friday night, though no injuries were believed to be life-threatening.

Power was knocked out to about 19,000 customers.

More thunderstorms headed across northern Alabama toward the city Saturday. "We're bracing for another round of whatever Mother Nature throws at us," said Lisa Janak of the state emergency management agency.

All downtown events scheduled for Saturday were canceled, including the St. Patrick's Day parade.

"It's a mess," Janak said.

A loft apartment building had severe damage to one corner and appeared to have major roof damage. Property manager Darlys Walker said there was one minor injury.

Taylor Morris, 29, who lives near the lofts, said he and his girlfriend took shelter in the bathroom.

"The whole house was shaking," he said. "We didn't know what was going on."

Fire Capt. Bill May said a vacant building also collapsed, with no apparent injuries.

Grady Memorial Hospital, the city's large public hospital where many of the injured were taken, had broken windows but was operating as usual.

In East Atlanta, downed trees, debris and power lines were strewn in the streets.

Melody and Brad Sorrells were home in their living room with their two children when the storm hit, and 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," Melody Sorrels said. "I feel sick."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association said the last tornado to hit a major city's downtown was on Aug. 12, 2004, in Jacksonville, Fla. Downtown tornadoes have also struck Fort Worth, Texas; Salt Lake City; Little Rock, Ark.; and Nashville, Tenn., in the past decade.

The tornado is the first on record in downtown Atlanta, said Smith, the meteorologist. The last tornado to strike inside the city was in 1975, and it hit the governor's mansion north of downtown, he said.
 

keith lestrange

Well-Known Member
hey y'all
my girlfriend lives in gainsville ga and she had hailstones the size of golf balls ..the roof of her was all dented and the drivers side window broken..batten down the hatches everybody !!!
hope everyone well and i will remember you all in my prayers :happy2:
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
Round Two came through about 4 PM, I had two inch size hailstones that left a lot of dents in my wife's new Ford and my Chevy PU. My house needs a new roof anyway, I'm hoping Allstate might buy me one!

We went to downtown Atlanta tonight to eat at a fancy restaurant. www.varsity.com . There were a lot of streets closed down due to the damage and a lot of the power was still out. It was strange going down Peachtree St. with all the traffic lights out and treating each intersection like a four-way stop. There was a lot of damage with windows knocked out, street lights and signs knocked down, and tourists everywhere taking pictures. It was a miracle with no serious injuries. The two deaths reported were in North Georgia, a long way from here.
 

Jack4343

FT DR Specialist
We went to downtown Atlanta tonight to eat at a fancy restaurant. www.varsity.com .

Fancy restaurant? That's a good one! Seriously, love the Varsity. We had a tornado warning yesterday around 4:30pm in Gwinnett County. Spent around 20 minutes in the bathtub with my 2 year old. I looked outside before that and saw the clouds really swirling and they looked like they were getting together but fortunately didn't fully form. Doppler Radar did indicate a tornado overhead but most of those Doppler indicated tornadoes don't fully form or touch down. The people to the Northwest of me in Canton, Gainesville and Polk County got really beat down yesterday. Line after line of supercells went through yesterday. Some places got over 5 inches of rain and yards full of hailstones. 5 inches of rain may not seem like much but when you realize that these storms were moving through at over 50mph and were over in less than 5-10 minutes, you are looking at rainfall amounts at over an inch in 10 or so minutes. Scary stuff and it's just the beginning here. We haven't really hit our storm season yet. Looks to be an active one this year.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
While I am sure that the rainfall was welcome, in light of the drought, I would think that the torrential downpours in such a short period of time would do little to lessen the effects of the drought. What is needed is a long, soaking rain over a period of days.

It was fortunate that the SEC basketball game went in to overtime as the spectators were indoors during the worst of the storms. I hate to think of the injuries and additional damage that may have occurred had these people been out on the streets.

I was in the Air Force prior to working at UPS and spent 4 years in Lubbock, TX. We had tornadoes touch down within 5 miles of the base. I put my 2 young children in the hallway underneath a mattress while I (foolishly) grabbed my camcorder and went outside to videotape them. The first one came down and went back up without causing any damage while the second one came down and tore up a trailer park pretty badly. They are an awesome sight when viewed from a safe distance.

I do wish all who were affected by these storms a quick recovery and do hope that Allstate buys Scratch a new roof, as well as repairs your 2 vehicles.
 

Jumperwire

Parceling the Fla coast
Round Two came through about 4 PM, I had two inch size hailstones that left a lot of dents in my wife's new Ford and my Chevy PU. My house needs a new roof anyway, I'm hoping Allstate might buy me one!

We went to downtown Atlanta tonight to eat at a fancy restaurant. www.varsity.com . There were a lot of streets closed down due to the damage and a lot of the power was still out. It was strange going down Peachtree St. with all the traffic lights out and treating each intersection like a four-way stop. There was a lot of damage with windows knocked out, street lights and signs knocked down, and tourists everywhere taking pictures. It was a miracle with no serious injuries. The two deaths reported were in North Georgia, a long way from here.
Hey Scratch....I was in Atlanta during the olympics driving a limo while on vacation from parcel I made huge money well worth the trip I really got to know the city, its a beautifull city. Is Cheetas still there? That was the hottest place people(men and women) wanted to go to. What a crazy place, we don't have any thing like that in N.J!!!!
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
Everything is fine here today. I'm getting ready to go out in the yard and clean it up a little. My roof wasn't torn off or anything, its just that I built this house about 23 years ago and its time for a new one! I have one subdivision on my delivery area where all the roofs got replaced for free by the homeowner's insurance from hail damage. I don't know if I actually have any damage to mine from yesterday.

I live on the west side of Atlanta, and have I-20 behind my house. This is called "Tornado Alley" sometimes, because the storms go from the west to the east. I had one about 15 years ago that was a near miss, we were woke up in the middle of the night and went down to the basement for safety. The top floor of my house started swaying, and the windows started creaking from the pressure. That storm tore off the tops of a dozen pine trees on my property.

Yesterday, the tornado warning sirens went off twice. The 4PM tornado went close by, it didn't touch the ground until about five mile east of here. I heard that "freight train" sound that everybody says they sound like. This is the one with all the hail, we took shelter in the basement again and watched two inch hailstones bouncing off our cars. I was amazed it didn't bust the glass out of them. It left about 30-40 small dents on the top of the new Ford Escape, we will definitely ask Allstate to fix it. My Chevy P/U is a 2002, its paid off and the dents aren't so bad.

It was just strange for a large city like Atlanta to get hit twice in about 24 hours. Most of the major damage was on the west side where the larger structures like the Georgia Dome and the tall buildings around there took most of the force. When we drove through Atlanta late afternoon Saturday, the wind damage went all the way through Downtown Atlanta. The area around the State Capitol and Grady Hospital had wind damage too. It was mostly billboards, traffic signs, and trees down there. Like I said, it was a miracle more people weren't hurt. If this had happened during the week when downtown was full of workers, it would have been a different story.
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
Scratch....glad you are all OK. I saw the news on TV and immediately thought of all browncafers from the Atlanta area.

However, it didn't delay my weekend in Vegas. :wink2:
 

local804

Well-Known Member
Hey Scratch....I was in Atlanta during the olympics driving a limo while on vacation from parcel I made huge money well worth the trip I really got to know the city, its a beautifull city. Is Cheetas still there? That was the hottest place people(men and women) wanted to go to. What a crazy place, we don't have any thing like that in N.J!!!!

DAMN, you have Atlantic City, Seaside Heights, Great Adventure and a complete coast of hot beaches with smoking women on them. Take your limo to NY and I will show you them if you like.
 
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