SEC Tourney Tornado

[jasonpeoria911]

Kind of off topic but rather news worthy. A tornado has just struck downtown ATL 3 blocks from the Georgia Dome where the SEC Tourney is being played. Multiple building collapses, many people injured, many accidents. Havn't mentioned anything about people in the dome yet but its chaos in downtown ATL right now.

http://www.scanfulton.com/ if you want to listen to Atlanta FD

Jason

[SFP]

The Georgia Dome had some damage. There were panals ripped out and people were scrambling from the top seats when the tornado came by. I was watching the MSU - Alabama game in OT with 3 min. left when they stopped the game.

[jasonpeoria911]

Judging by the damage and everything thats going on, I don't know if they'll get the SEC Tourney completed before Sunday. They'll have to move it to another city as that whole area will be blocked off for days.

Jason

[jasonpeoria911]

Things just got worse, another strong storm on track for downtown ATL in about 45 minutes.

Jason

[Bravesfan]

Kind of off topic but rather news worthy. A tornado has just struck downtown ATL 3 blocks from the Georgia Dome where the SEC Tourney is being played. Multiple building collapses, many people injured, many accidents. Havn't mentioned anything about people in the dome yet but its chaos in downtown ATL right now.

http://www.scanfulton.com/ if you want to listen to Atlanta FD

Jason

Wow! I did not hear about the building collapses, but did see the coverage on ESPN U and CNN. CNN reported some damage to their building, but they are still on the air, and not entirely covering the tornado (we're back to Obama's pastor believe it or not!). Also, the Atlanta metro area was under a tornado warning at the time, so hopefully there were not any fatalities with this.

As far as the Georgia Dome is concerned, some debris was shown on the ground outside the stadium, but it has been deemed safe to continue playing now, as they are now in the final minute of overtime between Miss St. and Alabama.

Thankfully things turned out okay there because this could have been a major disaster with all of those people in there. Unfortunately, I have a feeling some crowded facility will be hit in the future containing ten's of thousands of people with nowhere to go (It almost happened a few years ago when a tornado just missed the crowded race track at the Indianapolis 500). The players and crowd in this building tonight should consider themselves VERY lucky!

Now, good luck to the crowd getting around downtown Atlanta tonight with all of the damage that I am hearing about. Let's hope everyone got through this okay.

[jasonpeoria911]

Media stating 7-10 minor injuries at the GA Dome, probably the ones that were closest to the roof. Amazing live video footage at various Atlanta news sites.

Jason

[TheAsianSensation]

Let's assume Alabama misses the shot at the end of regulation.

The storm now hits in between games, with the fans mulling around the arena anywhere and everywhere.

[Bravesfan]

Let's assume Alabama misses the shot at the end of regulation.

The storm now hits in between games, with the fans mulling around the arena anywhere and everywhere.

Well hopefully they have something to alert people of incoming severe weather. Apparently though, they thought this would turn out to be nothing. It only needs to happen that one time out of one hundred times to cause serious injury or worse!

[ser_solace]

Let's assume Alabama misses the shot at the end of regulation.

The storm now hits in between games, with the fans mulling around the arena anywhere and everywhere.

Good point. I bet those people were safer staying in the dome.

[tornado]

One possible scenario I heard last night is to finish the games Sunday with the semi's and then just declare co-champions and let the committee figure it out.

But...here is the official SEC plan..........the winner between Georgia and Kentucky will have to play two games on Saturday.

The remaining schedule of games is as follows:

Saturday, March 15, 2008
Georgia vs. Kentucky - Noon ET
Tennessee vs. Arkansas - 6 p.m. ET
Mississippi State vs. Georgia/Kentucky winner - 8:30 p.m. ET

Sunday, March 16, 2008
SEC Championship game - 3 p.m. ET

[jasonpeoria911]

Read today that no tornado warning was announced inside the GA dome or Phillips Arena where about 25000 people were at. Really poor decision by those 2 facilities. Granted there's no where for those people to go but they can at least go in the hallway/corridors instead of out in the middle like in the GA dome with debris falling. I think they've probably learned there lesson now. Especially with surrounding counties getting demolished by more tornadoes right now and more on the way this evening.

Jason

[VromanFan]

Here's the footage from the game broadcast. You can hear the thing and yes it did sound like a train.

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

[Bravesfan]

Here's the footage from the game broadcast. You can hear the thing and yes it did sound like a train.

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

I saw it on ESPN U. By shear luck, they joined in the game for a look-in less than 20 seconds before the tornado hit. The next thing you know, you can hear the whirling sound in the background, and moments later the officials stopped the game. Then the cameras focused on the moving camera scaffolding at the top of the dome. Pretty creepy to say the least, but at least these buildings are designed for strong winds. Imagine if this was a high school gymnasium. I don't think I'd want to be in one of those at that time!

[jasonpeoria911]

Atlanta FD advising all rescue workers to take cover, another tornado has touched down near Winston with tennis ball size hail heading towards ATL city limits. I have no idea what there doing at GATech with the SEC Tourney right now though. If you want to listen in to Atlanta FD rescue workers, go to link below...

http://www.scanfulton.com/

Jason

[Bravesfan]

Atlanta FD advising all rescue workers to take cover, another tornado has touched down near Winston with tennis ball size hail heading towards ATL city limits. I have no idea what there doing at GATech with the SEC Tourney right now though. If you want to listen in to Atlanta FD rescue workers, go to link below...

http://www.scanfulton.com/

Jason

Yes, another tornado warning now issued for the city of Atlanta and surrounding areas until 4:15 Eastern time:

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
337 PM EDT SAT MAR 15 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
SOUTH CENTRAL COBB COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA
NORTHERN DOUGLAS COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA
CENTRAL FULTON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA *

UNTIL 415 PM EDT

* AT 334 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO NEAR WINSTON... MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO DOUGLASVILLE...CHAPEL HILL...MIDWAY...AUSTELL...LITHIA SPRINGS... SWEETWATER CREEK STATE PARK...MABLETON...SIX FLAGS...EAST POINT... COLLEGE PARK...ATLANTA...HAPEVILLE...TURNER FIELD AND PIEDMONT PARK.

WHEN A TORNADO WARNING IS ISSUED BASED ON DOPPLER RADAR...IT MEANS THAT STRONG ROTATION HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE STORM. A TORNADO MAY ALREADY BE ON THE GROUND...OR IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP SHORTLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS DANGEROUS STORM...MOVE INDOORS AND TO A BASEMENT OR INTERIOR ROOM ON THE GROUND FLOOR. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. IF DRIVING...DO NOT SEEK SHELTER UNDER A HIGHWAY OVERPASS.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM EDT SATURDAY EVENING FOR NORTHERN GEORGIA.

IF YOU SEE WIND DAMAGE...LARGE HAIL OR SIGNIFICANT FLOODING...WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE STORM HAS PASSED...AND THEN CALL THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOLL FREE AT 1 8 6 6 7 6 3 4 4 6 6.

LAT...LON 3368 8487 3378 8487 3379 8472 3383 8470
3388 8434 3365 8434 3364 8436 3364 8445
3360 8446
TIME...MOT...LOC 1937Z 277DEG 42KT 3372 8481

It looks like the tornadic part of the storm might hit downtown Atlanta or just south of there. This does not mean necessarily that there is a tornado at this second, but there is a strong probability that there could be one forming at any time. Also, straight line damaging winds and golf ball sized hail are very possible even without a tornado.

Also, just saw on the Weather Channel that a massive tornadic supercell just missed the University of Georgia in Athens Georgia! It's just one of those dynamic setups for numerous strong tornadoes, and it just happens to be over several large metropolitan areas.

So to tie all of this back to basketball, good luck to the SEC Conference in finishing this tournament on time! The safety of everyone is of course first and foremost the number one priority. But maybe this will all blow over without any major damage in time to finish everything up tonight.