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I once worked a block away from CNN Center in Atlanta. My nuclear chemistry lab was on the 31st floor of 101 Marietta. The current location is on one of the top floors of the Sam Nunn Federal Building on Forsyth Street. I often gazed out the windows wondering at the damage a tornado could cause to this area.
I also worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and that is one block away from CNN as well. Although the production building is built like a mini-fortress, the office building is little more than a glass cube.
I doubt BP was working at the time, however if he subsequently got called in to cover this story, he probably won't get a chance to respond for quite awhile.
(Now, watch him post a comment immediately after this.)
I'm here! I just found out via a phone call from my mom. (Heh.) I wasn't anywhere near there, but wow, looking at the damage on TV is bizarre. My edit bay is right by a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass that faces outside, on the south side of the building, so I hope it's not full of water and debris right now.
I've checked my work email and there are no notices or anything in there... these days I'm not in a department that responds to breaking news, so I wouldn't get called and right now, they probably can't get many more folks down there anyway since the roads and transit are all shut down.
OK, it looks like the damage was on the north and east sides of the bldg., so I think my work area should be safe. (There would have been ten or fifteen folks working in that area tonight, so this is good news.)
I wondered about that too, Ardiril... looks like the Tabernacle was closed tonight, though. And I saw some broken windows in the TV coverage, but the building seems intact. (Not bad for a hundred-year-old brick box!)
BP: Even if your immediate work area is okay, the building could possible be condemned and you won't be allowed in. That's what happened to the Banc One Tower in Fort Worth in 2000. It sat boarded up for about 3 years until one of the patriarchs of the city bought it and turned it into high-end condos, now known simply as The Tower.
What appears to be missing windows up and down the building in that last shot are actually balconies. Imagine having a 30th floor balcony!
Also, 101 Marietta already had to install structural reinforcements after a wind storm during the 80s.
From WSB: "At the SunTrust Bank Building dozens of windows were blown out, showering the streets below with broken glass. A taxi cab was picked up, spun around and dropped onto a sidewalk alongside Centennial Park." Sounds like the Westin also got some windows blown out.
... and the weather report tomorrow is forecasting an even stronger storm late Saturday afternoon/evening.
CNN Center is a weird, misbegotten piece of 70's architecture, though, Doohickie... it's like 4 separate buildings with a covered atrium sort of strung between them. I could imagine the atrium becoming condemned while the various buildings might not... or some of the cornerstone buildings being condemned, and other parts not.
Of course, that whole part of town stands about 6 stories above solid ground, over a railroad yard, and all the buildings are on tall skinny pylon legs. The sidewalks could get condemned, for all I know. I just know I have a project that's GOT to be delivered next week (there are ads for it running during this event coverage, even!) so I sure hope I can get to work Monday without some sort of major hassle. :)
on preview: wow, it just started raining like a mofo again as I was typing this. Loud enough that I could hear it over the stereo. I live 16 miles from downtown, so I sure hope it's not doing this down there, with all those out-of-town SEC tourists wandering around trying to get back to their hotels and etc.)
"Ironically, the guy behind me got a phone call saying there was a tornado warning," said Lisa Lynn of Atlanta, who was watching the game from the lower deck. "And in 2 seconds, we heard the noise and things started to shake. It was creepy."
2 point penalty for misuse of the word "ironically".
I was also wondering about all those pylons. Yeah, I could easily see the streets themselves getting condemned.
[Man, I love google news.]
Various news is reporting tree-damaged homes throughout Cabbagetown and East Atlanta, as well as some blown-out windows in Midtown.
Wow, me too. I was entertaining a daydream about moving to Atlanta a few weeks back and while researching (i do that with daydreams, it's more fun) I totally forgot that Atlanta is right there in Tornado-land.
Otherwise, I think it seems like a lovely city, and quite happening too!
Yikes. That storm passed thru Birmingham earlier (duh) and rocked my ass out of bed in the middle of the night. It's pretty rare for the Atlanta metro area to get hit by tornadoes, and this looks like it was an F2. Jeebus. This does not Bode Well for a peaceful spring.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
