Atlanta Tornado

If you've seen the news over the last few days, I'm sure you heard that downtown Atlanta took a direct hit from a tornado last night. It was an EF-2 tornado with 135 mph winds which left a path of destruction 200 yards wide and 6 miles long. Less than 1% of tornados hit major downtown areas. Just our luck.




Our condo is about 7 miles north of the downtown area. We had severe lightening and thunder around the time of the tornado, which hit at approximately 9:40 p.m. The lightening and thunder were nearly simultaneous at our place and the severity of the storm sent Nancy and Lucy (our cat) under the covers, while Michael chided them for being wimps. Today we rethought our disaster plan and realized that the master bath, which has no windows and is located in the most central part of our 4-story condo building, might be a safer alternative than under the covers . . .



We didn't learn about the tornado until we checked the weather this morning to see if we would be able to get in a bike ride. Since it was too wet to ride, and more severe weather was predicted for today, we grabbed the camera and took the train downtown to survey the damage. Although the television coverage was impressive, the full impact of seeing the area of devastation in person was powerful.


Windows from many buildings were blown out. Broken glass and debris covered the sidewalks. Insulation hung from the trees. Many of the streets were blocked to traffic. Police, barriers and crime scene tape were everywhere. Trees were uprooted. Cars were smashed. Large steel billboards were tweaked like toothpicks. Older buildings had completely collapsed. Utility poles and street lamps were broken in half. News helicopters circled the sky, while camera crews, news vans and reporters from all the major networks covered the streets. Several of the huge columns erected in Centennial Olympic Park for the 1996 Olympics were knocked over.



As we were walking down the street, a huge plate glass window fell about 20 stories from one of the big hotels and crashed onto a mini van about a half block away from us. At that point the police began yelling for everyone to get off the street. They didn’t have to tell us twice!



Many tourists were in the downtown area for the SEC basketball championships at the Georgia Dome. Just before the tornado hit one of the games had gone into a double overtime. If not for the fact that all of the fans were still in their seats to watch the exciting conclusion, thousands would have been filing out of the arena and into the streets just before the storm. That had to contribute to the amazing statistic that there were no deaths or serious injuries as a result of the tornado.


We spoke with a Tennessee fan who had been in the Dome. He reported that the fiberglass roof was undulating, and the catwalk and scoreboard which are suspended from the ceiling began to sway dramatically. Some people were screaming, but most made a hasty but organized exit into the concourse area. Officials kept them there for several hours. Today we saw many tourists dragging their luggage from one hotel to another looking for undamaged rooms for the night.

Additional photos can be viewed at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tandembikers/AtlantaTornado

Toward the end of the Picasa album you'll see some of the beautiful trees and bushes that have begun blooming around town this week. Springtime in Atlanta (despite the devastating weather) is truly incredible.


We're happy to report that we are safe and sound. Thanks to all for the phone calls and e-mails today. It’s been a joy to hear from so many friends and family.