03/14/08 DISC: GA

[Jeff Miller]

Discussion on severe thunderstorm and likely Tornado circulation that hit downtown Atlanta at approximately 9:45 PM EDT.

Severe storm damage extensive throughout Atlanta from this supercell thunderstorm. The roof of the Georgia Dome was ripped off, the game interrupted. Widespread damage in Downtown atlanta with heavily damaged building, damaged trees, widespread debris, and even collapsed condominiums.

As many as 15 injuries, one life threatening, have been reported as of the time of this writing.

No severe thunderstorm or tornado watches were in effect prior to this severe episode, however Atlanta area was under a Slight Risk with 2% Tor threat. The National Weather Service did issue a Tornado Warning at 9:30 PM for Central Fulton County, giving a 10-15 minute lead time. TVS Algorithm tracked directly over Downtown Atlanta prior to damage reports coming in.

Wikipedia already has a stub on this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_tornado


NWS Survey will be in Atlanta at 7 AM for surveying. Local media forecasters are preliminarily assessing this as a "possible tornado with what appears to be EF-2 Damage."

 

[Kevin Bowman]

What a terrible job the people at the georgia dome did.

i know this has been posted already but im going to go ahead and post it again. Listen 33 seconds in, it literally sounds like a frieght train. It really starts around 20 seconds with the low rumble but it really gets loud around 33

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7TT013NsSYc

 

[jason kissam]

wow thank goodness that catwalk didnt come down. hope no one was injured trying to get out of the arena.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

What a terrible job the people at the georgia dome did.

i know this has been posted already but im going to go ahead and post it again. Listen 33 seconds in, it literally sounds like a frieght train. It really starts around 20 seconds with the low rumble but it really gets loud around 33

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7TT013NsSYc

Not to play devil's advocate here, but what would you propose they have done? Even assuming they had a 20 minute warning lead-time, which they apparently didn't have here, where do you stuff 71,000 people that quickly? The dome doesn't have a 71,000 capacity basement, and they won't fit in th hallways, either. Would you tell 71,000 people to run out to their cars?

When you deal with that many people, the risk of death from panic stampede is a very real concern. Announcing that there is a tornado heading right for the dome and that there's nowhere for anyone to go is a bit counterproductive, I'd think.

 

[Joel Wright]

It sounds like if the game wouldn't have went into overtime, everyone would have been out in the parking lot trying to leave. Kind of scary.

 

[Jay McCoy]

It sounds like if the game wouldn't have went into overtime, everyone would have been out in the parking lot trying to leave. Kind of scary.

Actually it was a double header with an even bigger game.... Georgia/Kentuky game to follow so nobody was leaving. It ended up being postponed until today.

By the way Ryan there were only about 30,000 at the game. The Dome officials acted horribly. seconds after the tornado hit you can hear the PA announcer tell the crowd that severe wx was impacting downtown Atlanta showing they knew of the warning ahead of time. Soon as they knew they should have stopped the game and had people ushered into the underlying areas under the stands. the players were taken back into that area so why not the fans. There are huge storage areas surrounded by concrete under these stadiums along with the tunnels themselves. even getting people close to the walls instead of in the middle of a huge arena. If those swaying steel beams had collapsed then thousands would have been injured or killed.

Like we have said a thousand times on here a major sportiing event will be hit and there will be mas casualties. maybe then they will take wx serious at these stadiums.

 

[B Ozanne]

I agree, they should have stopped the game and ushered people into a safe area. But its a fine line between an orderly evacuation and mass chaos. We've all seen footage of soccer stadium or bridge stampedes. Thankfully not in this country.

Domes are actually considered to be very strong and safe structures. Maybe there was a plan, and engineers had decided that weighing the odds of a scaffold or roof collapse over a stampede, this situation played out perfectly.

It sure looks dramatic to see those large objects swaying on cables, but I'm guessing they weren't hanging by threads.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Actually it was a double header with an even bigger game.... Georgia/Kentuky game to follow so nobody was leaving. It ended up being postponed until today.

By the way Ryan there were only about 30,000 at the game. The Dome officials acted horribly. seconds after the tornado hit you can hear the PA announcer tell the crowd that severe wx was impacting downtown Atlanta showing they knew of the warning ahead of time. Soon as they knew they should have stopped the game and had people ushered into the underlying areas under the stands. the players were taken back into that area so why not the fans. There are huge storage areas surrounded by concrete under these stadiums along with the tunnels themselves. even getting people close to the walls instead of in the middle of a huge arena. If those swaying steel beams had collapsed then thousands would have been injured or killed.

Like we have said a thousand times on here a major sportiing event will be hit and there will be mas casualties. maybe then they will take wx serious at these stadiums.

Here's the problem though: when you get that many people in one place and tell them there is a life threatening emergency, it's quite likely that any attempt to herd them safely to a new area is going to cause a stampede. Panicked people generally don't act orderly. Try as you might, telling a stadium full of people to funnel down to the basement because they might die if they don't is likely to lead to hundreds of dead bodies piled up at the exits. There is a long history of stadium stampedes that cause mass fatalities, and many induced by situations far less threatening than a tornado emergency. So you are left with weighing the probability of a stampede due to emergency, which is relatively high, versus the probability of an actual tornado strike, which in most circumstances is relatively low. This is assuming you get at least 30 minutes warning, since moving tens out thousands of people inside a stadium at once takes a very long time. With 5 minutes warning, I suspect you're better off not telling anyone about it.

I think the cold truth is that once people are packed into a large indoor sports arena, many of those arenas must rely primarily on their engineering to protect people from severe weather. Trying to move people to more sheltered areas presents a risk to life. Evacuation is usually not possible. While every venue is different and poses different challenges, I think it might be a bit early to say that in this instance the management of Georgia Dome acted poorly. There were a lot more factors that came into play besides just the imminent tornado risk, and ultimately the net outcome of a direct or near direct tornado hit was 0 injuries, 0 fatalities.

*edited to correct my terrible grammar skills and to correct name of stadium *

 

[cedwards]

In 1990, a tornado came close (visible from the stadium) to an ongoing baseball game at College Station, TX. They successfully evacuated the stadium to the bathrooms and hallways. This was a slightly different situation as the tornado was visible and it was an open stadium, but it CAN be done successfully.


This just in. A news conference in Atlanta confirmed it was a tornado and they mentioned it was EF-2.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Charles, this is a confirmation from the NWS Survey?

 

[Chad Cowan]

News conference says it was a 200 yard wide EF-2 with a 6 mile path. Initial touchdown was at Simpson and Burbank downtown and tracked directly over CNN Center and Omni Hotel where EF-1 damage occurred. The EF-2 damage occurred at the Cotton Mill apartment complex.

An insurance adjuster on Fox 5 Atlanta just said he expects the Georgia World Congress Center repairs to cost over $100 million. He also said the damage to the Georgia Dome was mainly cosmetic.


EDIT: How is there no video of this tornado? If not from one of the millions of people who were in the area, there has to be an archived webcam or security camera.

 

[Patrick Marsh]

Since it happened downtown, there is always the chance that their wasn't a condensation funnel. The pavement will make it hard to kick up dirt to see the tornado at the surface.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Unconfirmed reports from citizens who were downtown from various sources are indicating there was a visible condensation funnel.

I wish someone videotaped it - I'm keeping an eye on youtube for anything that might surface.

 

[Jesse V. Bass III]

just herd they confirmed an EF/2 in Atlanta last night

 

[jladue]

I expect there'll be a few questions asked about why the officials didn't notify fans in advance. What can they do about it? Certainly they can't send them home. Of all places, I'll take my chances inside a dome than out in the parking lot. I'd rather have enough room behind the stands to stay. Some stadiums have enough room in their concourses but I've been in some that certainly don't.

Remember the Iowa State/Colorado game a couple Novembers back? The officials there had advance comms with the NWS, then had a watch and a prewarning, then a warning. They acted by sending flyers to everyone that entered the game that severe wx was a possibility and that nearby campus buildings have been opened to provide shelter. All the good steps were taken which probably would be something that everyone should take emulate. But there's only so much stadium operators can do. Several thousand tailgaters were watching the Iowa state tornado pass by to the north by a couple miles.

I have no idea whether or not the Atlanta officials were aware of the approaching supercell or in contact with forecasters. There appeared to be no watch. Then in 10 minutes they suddenly have a choice that I wouldn't want to make. They're were probably a lot of hopes and prayers going on about what to do. In the end, everyone was okay this time.


regards,

Jim