Atlanta Cleans Up After Tornado's Mess

Surprise storm rips through city; no deaths reported

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 15, 2008 9:59 AM CDT

(Newser) – Atlanta cleaned up today after a tornado with 130mph winds ripped through the city last night, CNN reports. About 30 people were injured, though none of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening. Thousands were without power today, and about 20 homes were damaged or destroyed in the historic Cabbagetown district near downtown. The city braced for a new round of powerful storms today.

"It was crazy. There was a lot of windows breaking and stuff falling," said a worker at one downtown hotel. The storm rattled the Georgia Dome downtown, filled at the time with thousands of basketball fans watching a game. Sections of the dome's roof blew away. The storm also took down a vacant building near Centennial Olympic Park and toppled two of the park's gigantic torches, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes.

Barricades are overturned in front of the Georgia World Congress Center next to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta Friday, March 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

A high seating area of the Georgia Dome shows damage that was caused by high winds near the end of the Alabama Mississippi State basketball game in Atlanta, Friday, March 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

A high seating area of the Georgia Dome shows damage that was caused by high winds near the end of the Alabama Mississippi State basketball game in Atlanta Friday, March 14, 2008. (AP Photo)

A weather warning is displayed on a television screen hanging near the basketball court in the Georgia Dome after a wind storm halted the Mississippi State-Alabama game. (AP Photo)

People walk through the debris in front of CNN Center in downtown Atlanta Friday, March 14, 2008. A severe windstorm ripped through downtown Atlanta Friday night. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

People walk through debris outside the CNN Center in Atlanta after a wind storm blew through the area, injuring several people and damaging the Georgia Dome and other buildings Friday, March 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

A man can be seen through broken windows as he talks on a radio at CNN Center in downtown Atlanta Friday, March 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

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Atlanta Cleans Up After Tornado's Mess

Surprise storm rips through city; no deaths reported

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Scenes of the South's Devastation

Tuscaloosa looks something like a war zone

After Arkansas Tornado, One Town Is ‘Gone’

Violent storms bring month's death toll to 12 in the state

Toll Hits 47 in Southern Storms

Tornadoes, rain, hail pelt the region

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Tornadoes claim victims in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama

Tornado Kills 2 in Oklahoma

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Atlanta Cleans Up After Tornado's Mess

Surprise storm rips through city; no deaths reported

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Atlanta • tornado • severe weather • Georgia • storm • Southeastern Conference • Centennial Olympic Park • Georgia Dome

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

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More Newser Stories

Scenes of the South's Devastation

Tuscaloosa looks something like a war zone

After Arkansas Tornado, One Town Is ‘Gone’

Violent storms bring month's death toll to 12 in the state

Toll Hits 47 in Southern Storms

Tornadoes, rain, hail pelt the region

Storms Wallop South; Death Toll Hits 17

Tornadoes claim victims in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama

Tornado Kills 2 in Oklahoma

Deadly storm then kills 2 in Arkansas before moving into South

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