A tornado swept through downtown Atlanta Friday night, slamming trees into cars and homes, disrupting a college basketball game and damaging the building that houses CNN.
Atlanta Fire Department spokesman Capt. Bill May said there were numerous injuries and widespread damage reported in downtown Atlanta, with roofs ripped off and trees torn down.
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.
Sometimes the story comes to you.
Our Atlanta-based contributing editor, K B, is OK.
One wonders what good is an advance severe weather warn system, when people ignore it to attend some basketball game? Just because they were inside, they felt it would be Ok?! Except the roof is not much more than a tent top. This tends to reinforce the idea that sports fans aren’t all that bright. If they’re so cavalier about their safety, to see some game. And the promoters could have delayed it for another night. Is there no provision in their schedule for natural disasters? Shouldn’t the public’s safety be more important than their profit angle? Yeah, I’ll bet if George Bush got shot, they’d reschedule the game, then.
“when people ignore it”
I live in atl and it was unexpected, we were supposed to get some bad weather but nothing like what actually hit.
I live in an Atlanta suburb and at the time the storm hit downtown we weren’t getting any rain where I was. I don’t think there was actually a warning downtown. Even though the weather service can provide warnings, sometimes it’s like the earthquakes on the west coast. A unexpected funnel cloud just dropped.
And usually – nothing hits downtown Atlanta because of the perimeter of the interstates and the heat of the city. It usually works out that we get the tornadoes and Atlanta is unscathed.
I was on a flight into Atlanta last night at this time. We landed about 9:15 pm. I was in the window seat watching the storm. The lightning was great. The strange thing was that the storm was well to the Northwest of downtown. From the Airport (south) the sky was fairly clear and the lights of Atlanta were clearly visible. It is surprising that in the 15 minutes after we landed the storm changed that much to cause the tornado.
I live in an Atlanta suburb and at the time the storm hit downtown we weren’t getting any rain where I was. I don’t think there was actually a warning downtown. Even though the weather service can provide warnings, sometimes it’s like the earthquakes on the west coast. A unexpected funnel cloud just dropped. Matter of fact – the National Weather Service hasn’t called it a tornado yet.
And usually – nothing hits downtown Atlanta because of the perimeter of the interstates and the heat of the city. It’s actually the first tornado type storm that has hit downtown Atlanta. It usually works out that we get the tornadoes and Atlanta is unscathed.
And Glenn E., why do you have to be hatin’ ? You seem to be a pretty negative person.
I watched the CNN live broadcast last night after the tornado hit. The newsman (and his cameraman) down on the street were amazed at the amount of shattered glass and other debris on the ground, and were showing the damage to the CNN building and nearby buildings.
From the look of the damage at ground level, I’ll guess it wasn’t near as intense as the tornadoes that have hit recently in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee, some of which have destroyed entire neighborhoods.
Glenn E.: Tornadoes aren’t near as predictable as you seem to think, so don’t imply that the tornado damage to the arena could be accurately predicted before the event.
I watched the CNN live broadcast last night after the tornado hit. The newsman (and his cameraman) down on the street were amazed at the amount of shattered glass and other debris on the ground, and were showing the damage to the CNN building and nearby buildings.
From the look of the damage at ground level, I’ll guess it wasn’t near as intense as the tornadoes that have hit recently in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee, some of which have destroyed entire neighborhoods.
Glenn E.: Tornadoes aren’t near as predictable as you seem to think, so don’t imply that the tornado damage to the arena could be accurately predicted before the event.
Finally, I just got off the phone with my brother, who lives in Athens GA. More whirly stuff is on its way in that area.
Sorry about the double post.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VEBM180&show_article=1
ATLANTA (AP) – minuteworld Tens of thousands of basketball fans at two arenas were perfectly safe, officials insisted Saturday, even though the crowds apparently weren’t warned about an approaching tornado—one that would ravage skyscrapers and injure dozens.