Tornadoes in Downtown Atlanta
A powerful tornado struck directly at the commercial center of downtown Atlanta on Friday night, blowing windows out of dozens of high-rise buildings, tossing trees and cars, and severely damaging many of the city’s landmarks, including the CNN Center, the Georgia Dome and the convention center.

At least 27 people were injured and taken to hospitals, said Capt. Bill May of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department, most with cuts and bruises from flying debris.


No fatalities had been reported by Saturday morning, but crews were combing through a loft complex in the southeastern part of the city where officials said four floors had collapsed, making search and rescue operations difficult and dangerous.

Another wave of tornadoes and thunderstorms, striking Saturday afternoon, killed two people in northwest Georgia, state officials said, one in Polk County and another in Floyd County.

The severity of the Atlanta storm surprised forecasters, who broke into prime-time programming Friday around 9:40 p.m. to report that tornadoes could be heading for downtown. Thousands of people had gathered in the area for two basketball games and a dental convention.

The twister brought what was supposed to be a busy Saturday to a near-standstill. The convention was canceled, as was the St. Patrick’s Day parade and the Atlanta Home Show. The Southeastern Conference basketball playoffs were moved from the Georgia Dome to a smaller stadium at Georgia Tech open only to players and their families.

The storm damaged the roof of the CNN Center, sucked furniture out of its lobby and sent storm water into the newsroom. CNN, which stayed on the air, said that one of its computers had been pulled through a window and that dust, glass and water were scattered throughout the building. The storm wreaked havoc on landmarks large and small. Two of the Olympic torch replicas were knocked over at Centennial Olympic Park, and the large sign outside the Philips Arena was damaged. The storm blew the windows out of Ted’s Montana Grill, owned by Ted Turner, and the Tabernacle, a popular concert venue. Skyscrapers were pocked with broken windows, and billboards were twisted into skeletal scaffolds.
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