(Possible) Tornado Hits Downtown Atlanta

[Emily]

I was just about to go to sleep around midnight when I changed the channel to the news and was completely shocked to see this. The SEC tournament is going on here and there are a lot of people in town, and this hit about 9:45 or so tonight. It hit the Georgia Dome, Philips Arena, the CNN Center, the Georgia World Congress Center... it's crazy. The footage is incredible.

This is really hitting home with me because I work right downtown. I haven't been able to recognize my building on the news, but they have mentioned that at least one SunTrust building was damaged, I think. I have no idea what will happen come Monday in regards to work. Luckily, I have my laptop and I can work from home, assuming the data center is fine and the servers are up. I am about 16 miles from work, and it's just weird to think that I had absolutely no idea this was going on. We got rain and a little thunder, but nothing out of the ordinary. But downtown, wow what a mess.

I just can't go to sleep watching all of this. My thoughts go out to those that were hurt or have lost their homes and belongings. So far they don't think there were any fatalities, which is good, but there were some people seriously injured. It's miraculous more people were not injured considering how many people were attending events downtown. This is just surreal.

(BTW, I said possible tornado because from the footage I'm watching, they're still debating whether it was a true tornado or just "severe weather" including very high winds.)

[Mrs. Bee]

Yikes. We live in tornado alley and it scares me every year. I really hate it. hope everyone is okay.

[WDWfanatic742]

Was watching it as it happened. Very scary thought. For the entire building to be shaking like that, it had to be a tornado. Nothing else would be able to come out that fast and then just go away as fast. What I am interested in is seeing how they are going to fit everyone into Georgia Tech when they can only hold about 9,000 people when the Georgia Dome can fit about 40,000 people split down the middle like it is.

I think that they said that one of the people in the Georgia Dome had to be taken to the hospital because they got hit by something from the roof.

[Melanie]

Very sad and very scary. I'm sorry to hear this.

[MNNHFLTX]

Wow, I hadn't heard about this until I read your your post. Emily. It sounds terrible.

Let us know how the building where you work fared.

[ibrowse17]

I saw it live during the Alabama game last night, and could not believe it. With so much going on in the downtown area last night, it was lucky that more people were not hurt.

[Jeff G]

Wow, I saw on SportsCenter that the Georgia Tech games was cancelled but they didn't make the storm sound this bad. I hadn't heard anything more about this until reading here and just watched the video at cnn.com, it's amazing the amount of damage. Hopefully everyone is OK.

[FlaTinkRAMESAM]

tornadoes always scare me. I hope that your building is okay and that your work isn't affected. I will be thinking of everyone in Atlanta that is dealing with this. It is a scary thing.

[Ian]

Glad to hear you're okay, Em.

Not that I would have known that from your email or anything ... since you didn't send me one ... needlessly worrying me that you might be hurt or seriously injured ... lying there in the street ... needing medical attention ... and me sitting here helpless to assist you in any way ...

But I don't want you to feel guilty or anything.

[offwego]

Glad your ok Em..

It sure didn't look very good on the tv. Hope everyone is ok.

[Emily]

Just got back from downtown, I couldn't stand not knowing what happened to SunTrust. From watching more footage this morning, I was fairly certain we were OK, but I wanted to confirm. I didn't get down in the thick of it, but circled my building and the Hilton, and checked out the SunTrust Plaza (the main highrise). All looked fine, no blown out windows. The SunTrust building that was damaged (we actually have several buildings in the downtown area) was over further southwest, I think. I saw it from the highway and could see a few blown out windows. But man, some of the other stuff I saw... wow. Definitely a mess down there. I could see the windows blown out on the Equitable building, the Westin, around the Georgia State University area, and on several much smaller residential buildings. Parking lots were filled with debris, several of the roads were closed and there were police everywhere.

Now we're just bracing for round 2 as we wait for another major storm to come through. Hope it doesn't exacerbate the situation in downtown. Looks like it's further north though so I guess that's good (for the downtown area anyway, not for those in the north). Hope it doesn't come roaring through here either! Tornadoes just don't sit well with me at ALL, so I'm hoping nothing that severe comes through here again.

[RedSoxFan]

Glad you're OK and everyone else is. I was watching it live when it happened waiting for the Kentucky Wildcats to play. Scary stuff.

[murphy1]

Hey Em, we are okay so far-we live 25 min from Atlanta, but last night we were watching out the window and could see the lightning down there, it was scary! I went to bed about 9:45, so I woke up to it today. Lindsey and I ran to Walmart and they announced a tornado warning over the intercom! The news said there is another round coming later, hope this goes soon! Stay safe! I feel safer in Florida weather! Did you see the old cotton building, they got hit really bad.

[murphy1]

I hope the aquarium is okay, it's right next to the Park and CNN. Em, if you need anything, let me know.

[JanetMegan]

What a day, I can tell you in Cumming, on Lake Lanier today I have seen the biggest hail of my life, bigger than a golf ball. I have been in a neighbor's basement believe it or not with a helmet on, that's how scary it has been. Bracing for round 3, or maybe it's 4 by now...anyways, will check back in later...

[Lacy]

As a former Atlantan it is scary and surreal to hear about these tornadoes. Glad to hear y'all are doing okay down there. It is eerie to see the footage on TV, both the storm damage and the empty basketball games.

[Quasimodo]

Hello All,

Some of you know me, my name is Tad Wood. Many of you know my wife Valerie (Narcoossee's Fan) who used to be a moderator here on Intercot. Emilly and Janet know me. I have met some of the rest of you before at Intercot meets.

Anyway, Valerie works for Atlanta Dental Supply. She and her company have been at the Hinman Dental Convention at the Georgia World Congress Center since Thursday. Valerie left the World Congress Center last night about an hour before the storm hit. She literally drove right were all of that debris was on the street. She made it home safely, however many of her fellow employees, including her boss, were staying at the Omni Hotel. We put on the news at about 10:45 PM last night and saw what was happening. Valerie started to freak out a bit and then got on the phone with her boss. All of her employees were accounted for, but one of their sales reps was injured when her hotel room window blew out. She was taken to the hospital but is going to be okay. She was released from the hospital early this morning.

However, the WCC was severely damaged. There are gaping holes in the roof and some of the vendor booths were damaged. Valerie was supposed to go back down there today to work but couldn't because everything is closed. Her company depends heavily on this event for a large part of its annual income. Valerie said they probably lost at least a million dollars in sales today. Plus they cannot get in to check on their booth and their computers. But the good news is nobody from her company was seriously hurt.

Anyway, I just wanted to let those of you who know Valerie what is going on.

[Aggie97]

It's some pretty crazy stuff. Thankfully my husband's office building downtown did not have any damage. We also really lucked out in Alpharetta. I have to admit it was a little weird to hear the tornado sirens this afternoon, though. (Since we're new to the state, it was our first time to hear them.) My grandparents are here from Buffalo visiting for the first time this weekend, and they didn't even want to leave the house today. They decided that their snow storms are much less scary.

Very best wishes to everyone dealing with this....

[murphy1]

We had a tornado touchdown Saturday off a road near our little downtown. I was thinking about you Janet! It is absolutely gorgeous and truly Spring today. Tad, I am sorry about her workplace, but so happy Valerie is oikay. I remember her.

[Emily]

Glad you guys checked in, Janet and Shari! I was thinking about both of you with the afternoon storms. I guess I was just far enough north to miss the second downtown band and far enough south to miss the craziness in the north. I hardly even heard any rain in the afternoon.

Hey Tad! I was wondering about Valerie not too long ago. Hope you all are doing well. Sorry to hear about what Val's company is going through with the storm. You guys take care and please tell her I said hello!