Tornado rocks downtown Atlanta, mayor says stay away
Around 9:30 p.m. March 14, a tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta and damaged landmark buildings, including the Omni Hotel, Georgia World Congress Center, CNN Building, the Georgia Dome and Phillips Arena, plus homes and businesses in nearby neighborhoods.
The damaged area encompasses Ralph McGill to Edgewood; Spring through Piedmont Avenue and Centennial Olympic Parkway to Moreland Avenue resulting in power outages in other nearby neighborhoods.
"I strongly urge everyone to stay away from the downtown area throughout the night and in the impacted areas until the emergency services give the all-clear sign," Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said Saturday. "It is imperative that people stay out of the area and let public safety personnel evacuate people and make the area safe."
Emergency services personnel also have urged people to stay indoors.
According to Atlanta Business Chronicle broadcast partner 11Alive (WXIA-TV), the storm tracked from the northwest side of the city to the southeast, demolishing buildings and downing trees that crushed cars and ripped through the roofs of homes payday loans. Thirty injuries have been reported as of Saturday afternoon.
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. Virtually all of the windows facing Centennial Olympic Park on the Omni Hotel, which is attached to CNN Center, were shattered. One employee said visitors to the hotel were being evacuated.
Windows also were shattered in the CNN.com newsroom. CNN's library was also damaged.
Outside the building, debris littered the streets and billboards collapsed onto parked cars. Centennial Olympic Park was also severely damaged.
Cousins Properties Inc.'s One Ninety One tower escaped the direct hit that other downtown buildings took, but still sustained damage, including numerous cracked windows, and debris strewn across the top of its parking deck.
Cousins is still evaluating but thinks that's the extent of damage.