2008 Severe Weather Thread

[windnrain]

Hey guys. Someone quickly tell me what that storm in ruston looks like. I'm in ruston and I'm currently waiting out the storm in the basement of a very large building. We saw the typical "saucer shaped" cloud, and we saw the tornado on the ground before we were forced inside because of hail.

It was beautiful.

[CajunMama]

it's just to the west of monroe.

http://tinyurl.com/yw8hf6

[Brent]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A possible tornado swept through downtown Atlanta on Friday night, disrupting a college basketball game and damaging the building that houses CNN.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

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.

Next door at the Georgia Dome, the SEC conference basketball game between Alabama and Mississippi State was halted. The storm visibly rippled the ceiling of the dome and caused some damage, video of the arena showed. Scaffolding holding the facility's scoreboard swayed 15 minutes after the storm hit.

Outside, construction cones and newspaper boxes were shoved into the street.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/03/1 ... index.html

[Ed Mahmoud]

Damage in Downtown Atlanta in the vicinity of the Georgia Dome/CNN Center/Centennial Olympic Park, it hit the Georgia Dome during one of the games at the SEC tournament.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... _0315.html

MAJOR very impressive hook now from the storm, it looks much better than it did when it hit Atlanta.

Saw that on ESPN. The intersection of weather and sports, what S2K is all about.

[JonathanBelles]

0140 1 NW ATLANTA FULTON GA 3377 8443 POSSIBLE TORNADO CAUSED DAMAGE TO THE GEORGIA DOME. DAMAGE AT CNN ALSO REPORTED FROM MEDIA. (FFC)

[Ed Mahmoud]

ATLANTA -- A severe storm ripped a hole in the roof and two panels off the side of the Georgia Dome during the Southeastern Conference tournament Friday, delaying the quarterfinal round.

With Mississippi State leading Alabama 64-61 with 2:11 left in overtime, a loud blast was heard inside the dome. The girders near the dome's roof began to swing, and a gaping section of the north part of the roof was ripped open, dropping debris.



Both teams were sent to the locker room along with the coaches' wives and children, and stadium officials began to evacuate fans.

Tyler Williams, from Knoxville, Tenn., said he was sitting in section 128, six rows behind the home-team bench.

"It sounded like a freight train," Williams said. "The rafters were swaying, and the roof of the dome was starting to ripple.

"It was a little frightening to say the least."


On the exterior of the north side of the dome, panels littered the parking lot and lawns. Full-grown trees lay uprooted, and large, 30-foot traffic signs directing patrons where to park sat turned over.


Eddie Smith, a bus driver who was shuttling media member from the dome to a downtown hotel, said the bus parked in front of him in a Georgia Dome parking lot began rocking back and forth and nearly tipped over during the storm.

"It blew up the hatches on top of the bus. I thought it was going to tip over."

At the adjoining Georgia World Congress Center, where an ROTC ball hosting 11 high schools was underway before the storm hit, windows were blown out everywhere as kids walked around with cut feet.

With crews on hand to fix downed power poles across the street, security personnel began to usher people back inside around 10:20 as another storm approached.




The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the Atlanta area at 9:26 p.m. EDT Radar indicated a storm capable of producing a tornado located about six miles west of Atlanta.

Link

[CrazyC83]

Another downtown tornado! That is like the 5th in the past year! Atlanta joins St. Louis (last March 31), Des Moines (October 2), Pensacola (October 18) and Springfield MO (January 8) as having downtown areas hit by tornadoes (even though all the others were weak)...

[JonathanBelles]

Memphis and Nashville are on that list as well.

[CrazyC83]

Memphis and Nashville are on that list as well.

Memphis hasn't had a downtown tornado in a long time, and Nashville last had it in 1998.

[CrazyC83]

From the looks of the damage, I'd say it was an EF2 tornado.

[CrazyC83]

CNN: 9 injured in Atlanta, one critical (and life-threatening).

[Chacor]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The search for anyone who might be trapped in an apartment building that collapsed when a tornado swept through downtown Atlanta Friday evening could last until Sunday, Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran said early Saturday.

The Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts, just east of downtown Atlanta, collapsed in a "pancake fashion," Cochran said.

[Bunkertor]

[Brent]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The search for anyone who might be trapped in an apartment building that collapsed when a tornado swept through downtown Atlanta Friday evening could last until Sunday, Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran said early Saturday.

The Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts, just east of downtown Atlanta, collapsed in a "pancake fashion," Cochran said.

The project manager was on the local station earlier and said everyone had been accounted for, so let's hope they are right.

Here's some local coverage I just uploaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQmld4mG3Tw

I'll try to upload some more tomorrow(I have tons of coverage and am still recording).

[Cyclenall]

I didn't even know there was a threat of severe weather last night.

[Brent]

I didn't even know there was a threat of severe weather last night.

There was a slight risk just west of Atlanta with 2% tornado probs just SW of the city, so there was a small threat, but tornadoes were not expected(and certainly not in Metro Atlanta). The main threat was thought to be hail(and was outside of that one tornado).

[Cyclenall]

I didn't even know there was a threat of severe weather last night.

There was a slight risk just west of Atlanta with 2% tornado probs just SW of the city, so there was a small threat, but tornadoes were not expected(and certainly not in Metro Atlanta). The main threat was thought to be hail(and was outside of that one tornado).

I'd say a eventful storm that was not expected to do much.

[Chacor]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- At least 20 homes in Atlanta's historic Cabbagetown neighborhood were flattened by a tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta on Friday night, a spokeswoman for the mayor said.

Firefighters fear there could be people dead inside the ruins of a collapsed loft complex in the same neighborhood, the spokeswoman said.

[Chacor]

Also, SPC still calling it a "possible" tornado and have not yet confirmed it was a tornado that caused the damage.

[Chacor]

Police have confirmed everyone is accounted for from the building collapse according to CNN. The complex was 104 years old.