A SCARY NIGHT IN DOWNTOWN ATLANTA


About 9:30 p.m. last night, an emergency broadcast message flashed across the screen that a tornado warning had been issued for downtown Atlanta, which is where I live. Less than a minute later, all the power went out. It was scary as fuck, folks, I'm not gonna lie. My building is not damaged and power came back on just a few minutes ago. The damage to parts of the city center is amazing. A tornado has never struck the heart of downtown, which is full of skyscrapers. The hardest hit area is a line from the Georgia Dome/CNN Center across to the old Cotton Mill Lofts where I used to live. The buildings are 100 years old and one had its roof ripped and the other had four floors collapse. It's horrific. 

Windows were blown out of many of the tall buildings downtown, CNN was heavily damaged, as was the World Congress Center, the SunTrust Tower had one side almost ripped away. The Vine City and Cabbagetown districts have hundreds of homes and apartments damaged or destroyed. There are 12,000 without power. Downtown is pretty much sealed off. I feel really lucky because the horrible damage is literally less than a mile away. The Cotton Mill Lofts are up the street. The pictures are from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, taken in downtown right after the tornado moved through. I hear there are trees and debris in the roads all around, but I'm going to try and get out with my camera. More soon.

Comments

Peter said…
Wow. Glad you are OK!
Anonymous said…
no need to lie about it being scary as shit. that would scare anybody. wow. those pictures tell it all. i'm just glad you're ok. this is like what hit memphis a couple of months ago, near where my mom and sister and nephews live.
Karen J. Weyant said…
You know that you are part of the blogging world, when you wake up, watch the weather channel, and then think, Geez...I hope Collin is okay. And in reality, you have never actually met Collin...

Good luck. Stay safe. I just heard that another storm is coming your way.
Jennifer said…
Collin, I'm glad you're o.k.! Where exactly do you live? I used to live in Inman Park (Waverly Way), and I thought you'd said you live there as well. Thank god you have power so you can blog about this for us!
When I e-mailed you late last night, I was worried sick.SO glad you're alright. I saw those pics on TV of where you USED to live(Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts)--It's also where I had my head-shots done--and I could not get over the damage. It looks like a WAR ZONE!
Up here in Alpharetta(about 30 minutes north of Collin) we had rain, hail, lots of wind, horrible lightning and thunder, but that's all. Again, I'm so glad you're alright!
Collin Kelley said…
I'm on Highland at Sampson. DeKalb Ave. and the Cotton Mill Lofts where I used to live are about two streets to the south and behind me. Apparently there is a lot of damage along Memorial Drive as well and parts of Ormewood Park were hit pretty hard. I'm about to head out and explore and get some photos.
I am so glad you're okay! We've been sending good thoughts your way.

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ButtonHole said…
It doesn't appear to be over today yet! Lots of tornadoes being warned against on the telly as I write. If I had some hatches, I'd batten those fuckers down!

I've never been super afraid of tornadoes (my mom was so nuts about them she insisted a storm shelter be put in UNDER the basement when we built our house when I was 4) but I find that as I grow older, and have a lot more "stuff" to lose --(I figure I can save my life)--I am more watchful and worried.

Wishing safety to all my fellow Georgians!
Sorry to learn about this, Collin. Glad you're safe.
DeadMule said…
Hi Collin, Glad to know you are all right. Helen
Justin Evans said…
I'm happy to know you re doing okay. Things can get pretty weird when stuff like that happens.
Ivy said…
Stay safe, Collin.
im glad you're safe. i was looking for you on CNN last night while they were broadcasting live, which for some reason they stopped at 12:45am and never returned. the F4 twister i was in in 1999 was no fun either. booooo to twisters!
Anonymous said…
so glad you are okay. I could hardly believe it when I heard this morning.
Anonymous said…
Glad you are okay! A tornado is scary. When I saw one in Maryland, I did not even know what I was seeing at first because trees blocked the funnel part. They are destructive, yes, yet what is odd is how narrow the path of destruction. One side of the street can be in ruins and the other side is a-okay.
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