Fresh Loaf

ITP TORNADO: Downtown F-2’s damage rattles hospitality industry, street closings and debris cause isolated traffic problems downtown this morning.

OTP TORNADO: Two killed by separate F-3 northwest of the city. A photo from the home of Bonnie Turner, one of the casualties, was carried 129 miles by the storm, landing in Cornelia, just west of the South Carolina border.

LANIER: Up 3/4 of a foot from Friday.

WAYNE CLOUGH: Steps down as Tech’s president to lead troubled Smithsonian.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Medical College of Georgia neuroscientist studies memory formation.

DEANGELO HALL: Trade to Oakland seems likely.

HOW ABOUT: Them Dogs. SEC championship, NCAA berth bolster Felton’s job security.

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When Friday’s tornado blazed through Vine City, Rochelle DeVaughn was asleep. Just before the windows of their Simpson Street apartment shattered from the late-night twister’s force, she was shaken awake by her husband.

“[He] woke me up and said, ‘It’s time to go,’” the Pittsburgh, Penn. native says. “I made it to the bottom of the steps and that’s when everything hit the fan, you know?”

DeVaughn rests on a brick wall outside the Central Park Recreation Center on Merritt Avenue, which sits in the shadows of the midtown skyline. Until Atlanta residents displaced by the disaster can get back on their feet, American Red Cross spokesperson Ruben Brown says, the two-story brick building will serve as a temporary relief center and shelter. (more…)

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Expect Monday traffic to be especially lousy in and around Downtown as crews continue working on downed power lines, damaged traffic signals, and debris removal.

If you can, city officials advise you to use MARTA. If not, be patient and prepared. Below are traffic details from the city.

From a release:

Traffic will be severely limited in an area bordered by: Andrew Young International Blvd., Phillips Drive NW, Centennial Olympic Parkway Dr. NW, Marietta Street NW/Decatur Street SE, and Peachtree Center. Consider planning a route that does not travel through downtown and plan extra time to get to work.

Police advise motorists coming to the city from the south, who work north of Harris Street, to continue on 75/85 past downtown and double back in to avoid the worst-hit areas. Those living north of the city, and working south of Marietta Street should plan to travel past the downtown exits and travel back. Exits to avoid off the 75/85 are Edgewood and Andrew Young International.

The following street closures are still in effect as of 5:30 pm:

Jessie Hill from Coca Cola to Armstrong
Auburn Ave from Bell Street to Jesse Hill
Coca Cola Pl. from Jesse Hill to Pratt Street
Boulevard – Gartrell to Memorial
Jackson – Gartrell to Todd Streets
Park Pl – Edgewood to Auburn Streets
Marietta St – Peachtree to Fairlie – westbound only
Luckie St – Peachtree to Forsyth
Peachtree – Marietta to Harris St
Andrew Young International Blvd – Peachtree to Spring Street
Harris St. – Spring to Peachtree
Marietta Street – Centennial Olympic Parkway to Andrew Young International Blvd
Spring Street – ML King to Walton

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Creative Loafing was a victim of Friday night’s storm. See?

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Last 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)

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CNN reports the powerful storm that whacked Atlanta on Friday night included a tornado.

Here’s Jackson Street, near King Memorial MARTA station, just after the storm.

I posted several more photos to CL’s Flickr group pool.

Based on my drive around town this morning, the most intense part of the storm appears to have travelled west-to-east, from Vine City, to the Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center complex, across the Downtown business district, across the Downtown Connector, into Sweet Auburn, Old Fourth Ward, Cabbagetown, and the parts of Grant Park north of I-20.

The map to the right shows what appeared, to me, to be the storm’s path. I’m not a meteorologist. The map is based on damage I saw, and damage I saw reported on television.

Each red X indicates a downed tree, power line, or severely damaged structure that I saw myself. There are no X’s in the middle of Downtown because I couldn’t get there. Police blocked the roads.

The shaded part of the map is where damage and debris seemed most prevalent. There was no electricity in much of Atlanta this morning, especially west of Downtown, so I’m sure I missed a lot.

I apologize for typos and/or sloppy writing. It’s 3:00 A.M. and I’m exhausted.

UPDATE: Photos of the tornado’s destruction are showing up on Flickr this morning. Click here for the most recent photos tagged “Atlanta tornado”

UPDATE 2 (12:31 P.M., Sat. March 15): Of the nearly 600 photos tagged “Atlanta” and “tornado” on Flickr so far, not one seems to have been taken west of the Georgia Dome. I drove around Vine City before sunrise and the damage there looked every bit as bad as it appears to be in Cabbagetown. Unless you and yours neighbors have digital cameras and broadband, I guess your neighborhood won’t show up on Flickr.

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