Last evening at about 9:30 what was believed to be a tornado tore through downtown Atlanta, Georgia causing widespread damage around the CNN center and Centennial Olympic Park among other prominent areas. There were power outages, gridlock from fans leaving sports events, extensive debris, and frighten people. Windows were blown out in hotels in the area. Furniture and other hotel furnishings were thrown into the street. Traffic lights were smashed. Power lines littered the ground along with broken grass that looked like large pieces of ice. Insulation from buildings dangled from trees. The glass in vehicles was shattered, and some cars and taxis were fully destroyed. Despite all of this damage no one was killed, but many people received injuries.
One couple who were driving when the storm hit said that while it was raining hard with thunder and lightning, debris from buildings and elsewhere started whirling. They looked up and though they could not make out a funnel cloud, they saw blue and green lights. I have seen the sky turn a very eerie green or reddish orange when the weather was tornadic. Perhaps what they saw WAS a tornado. Other witnesses who were tornado survivors said they were certain that the storm contained a tornado. A number of people said they heard what sounded like a freight train.
This is the first tornado to hit the heart of downtown Atlanta. In 1975 a tornado damaged the governor’s mansion on the north side of the city. It is a myth that tornados do not strike metropolitan areas where there are skyscrapers. They can strike anywhere.
Atlanta is the capital city of my state. It lies 65 miles west of Athens. It is the birth place of Martin Luther King, Jr., Margaret Mitchell who is author of the Romance Gone With the Wind, movie producer Spike Lee, actor DeForest Kelley of Star Trek fame, and rapper Kanye West. Atlanta also hosted the 1996 Summer Olympic games.
As I write this, a thunderstorm has begun and more severe weather is expected today.
Videos concerning the storm in Atlanta can be viewed here on the CNN website.
5 comments:
take care of yourself. Weather is so nice in Turkey:))
Thanks anonymous! It is very nice here today finally. Two days of bad weather on Friday and Saturday...
Did you say rain? Send it our way if you can. We have not had rain in Melbourne for months.
:(
Ardent,
I understand. It was horrible here last year because we had the worst drought in a century. The lakes and reservoirs were drying up. We did not get enough rain this winter, but at least it rained. It is raining today:)
The drought here ended people watering their lawns. Anyone trying to sneak and do it was fined and their water could be shut off. The plant nurseries (maybe you call them hothouses) were driven out of business because the Athens government put heavier restrictions on them than on restaurants and car washes. It is really sad for a lot of people who have small businesses selling plants and shrubbery. They already could barely compete with the big companies who sell everything under the sun. The drought has nearly wiped them out. Some of them were on television last week begging the Athens government commission to restrict water usuage equally for all businesses which function on using large amounts of water. Their request was fair and reasonable, and I hope their voices are heard.
Also Ardent,
It definitely was a tornado that hit downtown Atlanta on Friday night.
Saturday afternoon another came outside the city and killed two people.
One was here in Athens but in the northern part of the city. There was little damage and no one was hurt. I live in the southwestern suburbs of the city. It got really bad here for about 5 minutes with loud thunder, strong wind, large hail, pouring rain. We were debating whether to go to our basement. It might have been a tornado that went over our house. It was all over before we could make a decision.
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