Replies

There is an updated article available at the FOXNews.com website:

Storm Rips Through Downtown Atlanta, Injuring at Least 20 and Halting SEC Tourney - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,338078,00.html
PHOTOS - http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,3558,00.html

Saturday , March 15, 2008
AP

ATLANTA —
A possible tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta on Friday night, smashing skyscraper windows, sucking furniture and luggage out of hotel rooms, crumbling part of an apartment building and rattling the rafters of two major sports arenas filled with basketball fans. At least 20 people were hurt.

Streets around the Georgia Dome, the Phillips Arena, the CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park were littered with broken glass, downed power lines, crumbled bricks, insulation and even the occasional office chair. Billboards collapsed onto parked cars. Stunned fans from the arenas and hotel guests wandered through the debris in disbelief.

“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 apparent twister hit.

At an early morning news conference, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin called the storm “what we now know was a tornado.” But National Weather Service officials continued to say only that a “possible tornado” hit around 9:40 p.m., accompanied by a storm packing 60 mph winds. A tornado warning had been issued for downtown a few minutes before.

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 something was wrong was a rumbling from above and the rippling of the Fiberglas 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 hourlong delay under a roof with at least two visible tears. A later game between Georgia and Kentucky was postponed.

“Ironically, the guy behind me got a phone call saying there was a tornado warning,” said fan Lisa Lynn, who was watching the game from the lower deck. “And in two seconds, we heard the noise and things started to shake. It was creepy.”

A half-mile away, the sign of the Phillips Arena was left mangled by the storm but fans inside noticed little disruption during a game between the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers.

Most of the damage from Friday’s storm was concentrated in downtown Atlanta and the storm knocked out power to about 10,000 people. Authorities blocked off roads around the CNN Center, where heavy debris filled the streets. A chair from the skyscraper’s lobby sat in the middle of the street, flanked by cars crushed by fallen debris.

Insulation, metal siding and other debris hung from trees. The streets were covered in shattered glass, chunks of concrete from buildings and downed power lines.

Atlanta Fire Department Capt. Bill May said the department was working “multiple incidents” and that part of a loft apartment building collapsed, but he did not know if there were any injuries.

The loft apartment building, built in an old cotton mill — had severe damage to one corner, and appeared to have major roof damage. Fire officials said it “pancaked,” and they were uncertain whether all the occupants had escaped.

Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokesman Buzz Weiss said at least 20 people were transported to area hospitals from damaged areas across the city. He did not know the severity of the injuries or the condition of the victims. Grady Memorial Hospital, the city’s large public hospital where many of the injured were taken, had broken windows but was operating as usual.

Kendra Gerlach, spokeswoman for Atlanta Medical Center, said the hospital was treating about five patients in the emergency department at around 11:45 p.m. She said each patient suffered minor injuries with only cuts, scraps and bruises.

“It’s only a few, but I’m expecting to get more soon,” she said.

May said a vacant building also collapsed, with no apparent injuries. He said seven to 10 people had been taken to the hospital.

Weiss said search and rescue teams from five metro-Atlanta communities were called in as a precaution. He said the teams are equipped to handle rescues in collapsed buildings, but added that he did not yet know whether that kind of rescue would be needed.

Weiss said officials were unsure of the extent of the damage but said it “seems to be a little more widespread than it initially appeared.” He said it would likely be daylight until a complete assessment could be made.

On its Web site, CNN said its headquarters building sustained ceiling damage, allowing water to pour into the atrium, and windows shattered in the CNN.com newsroom and the company’s library. It also said Centennial Olympic Park was severely damaged.

In East Atlanta, downed trees, debris and power lines were strewn in the street, which was eerily quiet in the wake of the pounding hail, sheets of rain, flashes of lightning and growling thunder.

Melody and Brad Sorrells were at home with their two children when the storm hit. The family was in their living room when Melody Sorrells said she heard 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,” she said, while turning to look at the massive trunk blocking the front door. “I feel sick.”

The family escaped out of the back of the house. Brad Sorrells said the winds sounded like a roaring train.

“It was a tornado,” he said, with arms folded.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the most recent 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.

Click here to read more on this story from MyFOXAtlanta.