Vine City tornado photos
March 15, 2008 at 7:25 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsLast night’s tornado didn’t just tear a path through Downtown and Cabbagetown. The storm’s footprint appears to have started in Vine City, a historic neighborhood just blocks from the Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center, and stretched east.
In Vine City this afternoon, crews from Georgia Power and Comcast were at work restoring power and telephone service, as well as clearing downed power lines from the street. Griffin Street was hit particularly hard and appeared as if a eastbound wave of force tore through the neighborhood. A pavilion at John F. Kennedy Park was crushed, and two trees fell on the park’s playset.
On James P. Brawley Drive, an apartment building’s roof was torn off. Remnants were scattered on an adjacent park’s playing field. A tenant from the damaged building who went by Robert allowed me to photograph inside while he packed up his belongings.
Half of the ceiling in Robert’s apartment was gone. Everything inside was drenched, including his family photos. Robert’s daughter said she and her father would spend the night at a relative’s apartment. Shortly after I took these photos, marble-sized hail and pounding rain started to fall.
So far, two people had been reported killed by the weekend’s storms. John Oxendine, Georgia’s insurance commissioner, estimated the storm’s damage at $150 million. The Downtown skyline looks pummeled, with many landmark buildings missing windows. Streets around Centennial Olympic Park are still closed because of scattered debris.
To view more photos and add your own, visit Creative Loafing’s Flickr page here.
(Photos by Thomas Wheatley)
March 16th, 2008 at 10:49 am
D’oh, I must’ve just missed you. My inexperience with the N95 led me to make some editing and uploading mistakes, and as I sat around waiting for a rumored John Lewis appearance, I drained the bejeezus out of my battery. I finally went home to recharge the phone and learn mad Nokia skills, and that’s when the weather went to hell again and I decided my day of filming was over.
Nice folks down there; they knew I wasn’t much but they appreciated having *somebody* with a camera bother to come visit while everyone else was in Cabbagetown and in front of the Arena.
After the weather cleared again, though, I was on the phone with someone from iReport confirming details when I saw Fox 5 broadcasting live from in front of the Mt. Gilead church with the tipped steeple. They finally found the story! (Anybody know if they’re on Twitter??)
March 16th, 2008 at 11:11 am
In addition to press/Flickr neglect, there were clearly fewer police, power, and clean-up crews in Vine City than there were in Cabbagetown, North Ormewood and East Atlanta.
March 16th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Thanks for covering this.
If you were watching the news or following online yesterday, you’d hardly know that Vine City was hit.
March 16th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Shelby,
We must have just passed one another. I was down there around 3-4 p.m. I think, during the hail storm. I had the same experience — the residents were happy to speak with me. One guy was walking among the debris and talking on the phone. When he passed me he said, “There’s a photographer down here. Maybe we can finally get some leadership in this neighborhood.”
For those who haven’t seen it, Shelby posted a video of the damage that’s available here:
http://shelbinator.com/2008/03/15/vine-city-storm-damage-2/
March 17th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I hate to think that the media is as biased as it seems to be. But its struck that I am hearing a lot about cabbagetown, downtown and not enough about vine city. I\\\’m going down there to volunteer, my grandma leaved there for 50yrs. Please don\\\’t let it be about race. Those neighborhood are almost identical