2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak

2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak

Tornado (shadow at left), after going through downtown Atlanta
Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	March 14–15, 2008
Tornadoes confirmed	45 confirmed
Max rating1	EF3 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak2	24 hours, 7 minutes
Damage	>$250 million
Casualties	3 deaths (1 in Atlanta), 53 injuries
Areas affected	Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina
1Most severe tornado damage; see Enhanced Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado

The 2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak was a tornado outbreak that affected the Southeastern United States on March 14–15, 2008.

A tornado caused widespread damage across downtown Atlanta, including to the CNN Center and to the Georgia Dome, where the 2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament was postponed. Other buildings that were damaged include the Georgia World Congress Center, Philips Arena (during an Atlanta Hawks game), and the Omni Hotel, which was evacuated after many windows were blown out. The Westin Peachtree Plaza suffered major window damage. The image of the building with all the windows blown out became famous and, for a time, was the symbol of the tornado. Centennial Olympic Park, SunTrust Plaza and historic Oakland Cemetery were also damaged. One man was killed near downtown Atlanta and 30 others were injured. Two other deaths took place on March 15 in the northern Atlanta suburbs from the second, larger round of severe weather and tornadoes. In total, 45 tornadoes were confirmed over the 24-hour period from eastern Alabama to the Carolina coast, with most of the activity concentrated in the Metropolitan Atlanta area, the Central Savannah River Area and the Midlands of South Carolina.

Meteorological synopsis

Atlanta tornado event

Street level tornado track map of the Atlanta tornado (NWS Peachtree City, Georgia)

Damage near Centennial Park.

In their 9:00 pm EDT outlook, the Storm Prediction Center issued a slight risk of severe weather across portions of the southern United States from Oklahoma to Georgia, with a 2% risk area for tornadoes for the Atlanta area. A tornado warning was issued for Atlanta at 9:26 pm when the thunderstorm that caused the tornado was 6 miles (10 km) to the northwest of the downtown area, although no watches were in effect for the area due to the low probability and unusual isolated nature. The tornado drifted southward as it moved eastward, whereas most tornadic storms have a strong northward component along (or ahead of) a cold front. It also was unusual because it was not associated with such a squall line at all, but was an independent supercell drifting well ahead of the main storm system.

March 15 tornado event

Another tornado outbreak struck the southeast the following day. A moderate risk for severe storms was issued early in the morning, and maintained through the afternoon. However, by mid afternoon, areas of east-central Georgia and central South Carolina were upgraded to a high risk of severe storms due to the tornado threat.

Confirmed tornadoes

Confirmed tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita rating

EF0	EF1	EF2	EF3	EF4	EF5	Total
14	19	9	3	0	0	45

March 14 event

List of reported tornadoes - Friday, March 14, 2008
EF#	Location	County	Coord.	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Georgia
EF2	Atlanta	Fulton, DeKalb		0138	6 miles (9.7 km)	1 death - See section on this tornado
Sources: Storm reports of March 14, 2008

March 15 event

List of reported tornadoes - Saturday, March 15, 2008
EF#	Location	County	Coord.	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Alabama
EF2	SE of Oneonta	Blount		1450	6 miles (9.7 km)	25 houses sustained major damage and many others had minor damage. One mobile home and many farm buildings and outbuildings were destroyed, killing many animals.
EF2	NE of Pleasant Gap	Cherokee		1600	3 miles (4.8 km)	Major damage to a roof of a house and a barn, as well as snapped pine trees.
Georgia
EF3	Aragon area	Polk, Floyd, Bartow		1625	16 miles (26 km)	2 deaths - Large wedge tornado destroyed at least 20 houses and damaged hundreds of others. Thousands of trees were knocked down across three counties. Two others were injured.
EF0	Franklin Springs area	Franklin, Hart		1844	3 miles (4.8 km)	Tornado confirmed with widespread damage to trees and power lines. Major damage to a couple of houses and cattle barns.
EF1	NE of Gill	Lincoln, McCormick (SC)		2015	16 miles (26 km)	Many trees were knocked down.
EF2	SE of Fortsonia	Elbert		2019	7.3 miles (11.7 km)	Damage reported to several structures, including a roof blown off a house and a boat dock thrown in the air in Bobby Brown State Park.
EF1	N of Winfield	McDuffie, Columbia		2148	8 miles (13 km)	One mobile home was destroyed and several others damaged. Many trees were knocked down. Two people were injured.
EF0	W of Jackson	Butts		2215	3.25 miles (5 km)	A barn was destroyed and numerous trees were knocked down.
EF2	Matthews area	Jefferson, Burke		2215	19 miles (31 km)	Several mobile homes were destroyed and numerous houses were damaged, some by fallen trees.
EF1	SE of Waynesboro	Burke		2305	15 miles (24 km)	One house sustained moderate damage to the roof, windows and shingles. Several mobile homes were damaged.
EF2	NE of Springfield	Effingham		0134	2.5 miles (4.0 km)	Over 40 houses were damaged, and three mobile homes and many outbuildings, barns and sheds were destroyed. Power transmission towers were also knocked down. Six people were injured, both in vehicles and mobile homes.
EF2	NE of Rincon	Effingham		0144	0.5 miles (800 m)	Tornado impacted the McIntosh Plant of Georgia Power, where several buildings were destroyed.
South Carolina
EF0	Due West	Abbeville		1950	1 mile (1.6 km)	Tornado reported by a local sheriff with trees damaged.
EF0	N of Bucklick	Fairfield, Kershaw		2010	25 miles (40 km)	Long track tornado with tree damage.
EF3	Prosperity area	Newberry, Richland		2025	28 miles (45 km)	Many houses sustained major damage and mobile homes were destroyed. Two people were injured.
EF1	Lugoff area (1st tornado)	Kershaw		2030	23 miles (37 km)	Numerous houses and mobile homes damaged and trees down.
EF0	SE of Angelus	Chesterfield		2047	7 miles (11 km)	Long track tornado with tree damage.
EF1	McCormick area	McCormick, Edgefield		2102	24 miles (39 km)	Long track tornado with intermittent light to moderate damage, affecting numerous houses and mobile homes.
EF2	Elgin area	Kershaw		2122	7 miles (11 km)	Large wedge tornado tore through town damaging many houses and destroying four mobile homes. Two people were injured.
EF1	SW of Ward	Saluda		2124	3 miles (4.8 km)	Major damage to one house and many trees knocked down.
EF0	Lugoff area (2nd tornado)	Kershaw		2133	1 mile (1.6 km)	Brief tornado touchdown.
EF0	SE of Monetta	Aiken		2137	1 mile (1.6 km)	Brief tornado touchdown knocked down trees.
EF1	Pelion area	Lexington		2141	8 miles (13 km)	One mobile home was heavily damaged and farm equipment was damaged.
EF1	E of Sharp	Richland		2143	4 miles (6.4 km)	Significant damage in the Lake Carolina area with homes damaged and trees knocked down, especially near Columbia Country Club.
EF0	Latta	Dillon		2148	1.2 miles (1.9 km)	Minor damage to seven houses, some of which was caused by fallen trees.
EF1	N of Wolfton	Orangeburg, Calhoun		2205	21 miles (34 km)	Several houses and barns were damaged and outbuildings were destroyed. Tree damage reported in the area.
EF0	N of Pleasant Lane	Edgefield		2211	4 miles (6.4 km)	Trees down in a heavily forested area.
EF2	Clearwater area	Aiken		2218	25 miles (40 km)	Large wedge tornado up to 1 mile (1.6 km) wide destroyed a water tower and heavily damaged many houses.
EF1	S of Florence	Florence		2225	14 miles (23 km)	Over 80 houses were damaged and about 10 trailers were rolled. At least 16 were also impacted. Three people suffered minor injuries and two livestock were killed.
EF0	W of Williston	Barnwell		2247	unknown	Brief tornado touchdown with no damage.
EF1	S of Ashwood	Lee		2252	14 miles (23 km)	Several houses, mobile homes and a church were damaged.
EF0	E of Elko	Barnwell		2254	unknown	Brief tornado touchdown with no damage.
EF0	S of Manning	Clarendon		2302	8 miles (13 km)	Tornado tracked along the north shore of Lake Marion. Minor damage to several houses.
EF1	SE of Denmark	Bamberg		2305	2 miles (3.2 km)	Several houses sustained moderate damage, and power poles were knocked down.
EF0	Aynor	Horry		2313	0.25 miles (400 m)	A mobile home and a car port were destroyed, which also damaged trees and power lines.
EF1	S of Greeleyville	Williamsburg		2317	1.5 miles (2.4 km)	One house was damaged and a church steeple was toppled. Extensive tree damage.
EF3	Branchville area	Bamberg, Orangeburg		2325	14 miles (23 km)	Widespread damage in the area from a large wedge tornado with 17 houses damaged or destroyed. Many downtown buildings and a fire station were also damaged or destroyed in Branchville.
EF1	Trio	Williamsburg		2336	3 miles (4.8 km)	A total of 35 houses were damaged, of which one was destroyed.
EF1	SW of Oakland	Georgetown		2354	20 yards (20 m)	Very brief tornado blew a few trees onto a house.
EF1	N of Ridgeville	Dorchester		0008	2.2 miles (3.5 km)	Rope tornado with metal panels removed from a gas station canopy. Two mobile homes were also heavily damaged.
EF1	Strawberry	Berkeley		0025	0.6 miles (970 m)	Heavy damage to a mobile home park with 14 mobile homes impacted. Seven people were injured.
EF1	N of Charity	Berkeley		0036	1.2 miles (1.9 km)	Roofs were damaged on a church and a house. Many trees were knocked down.
North Carolina
EF0	Fair Bluff	Columbus		2210	30 yards (27 m)	Very short-lived tornado damaging a few trees amidst straight-line wind damage.
EF1	Hampstead	Pender		2356	2 miles (3.2 km)	Several houses and businesses were damaged in the area.
Sources: Storm reports of March 15, 2008, NWS Birmingham, NWS Wilmington, NWS Peachtree City, NWS Greenville, NWS Columbia, NWS Charleston

Atlanta tornado

Damage to Centennial Olympic Park

CNN Center was severely damaged, including shattered windows. The Georgia World Congress Center also sustained serious damage, as was the Omni Hotel, especially the skywalk between the two hotel towers over Andrew Young International Boulevard. This complex alone lost 476 windows, making it necessary to close the south tower to guests. The facades of the Georgia Dome and a Philips Arena parking garage were damaged while hosting basketball games. Two of the giant columns in Centennial Olympic Park were knocked down, and bits of insulation were stuck in trees. Trees on some other streets, where more closely built skyscrapers cause a greater wind tunnel effect, were knocked completely down, despite being too early in spring to involve leaf drag. Glass was strewn across several streets, and Atlanta Police kept residents, hotel guests, and news crews away from buildings with loose glass, which continued to pose a danger into the night. Cars in the area also had windows blown out, and hotel and office furniture was found scattered about.

File:Tornado Damage by Brianga.JPG

Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel tornado damage; the other side of the building had even worse damage

File:Sundial Damage by Mark Peppers.JPG

Damage from inside the top of the Westin Peachtree, not easily visible from the ground

The Ritz Carlton, Westin Peachtree Plaza, Georgia-Pacific Building, SunTrust Plaza (where more than 60 people had to be relocated out of their offices), Equitable Building, and Georgia State University also had windows blown out (300 at Equitable alone), as did The Tabernacle (a former church with stained glass that is now a concert venue). The windows of the Westin continued to fall for days after the tornado, forcing police to keep several city blocks and MARTA's Peachtree Center station closed to pedestrians. The Georgia World Congress Center also sustained flooding while hosting a JROTC event and the Hinman Dental Meeting; Fox Sports Net took footage of a staircase in the new section of the complex that looked like a fountain with water cascading down it. The annual Atlanta Home Show and all other events were cancelled for the weekend in the GWCC complex, as was the Atlanta St. Patrick's Day Parade scheduled for the next day. WRAS FM at Georgia State University was off the air for two days, though it was not stated whether its studio or tower sustained damage, or if this were due to security or safety concerns, or power outages. The historic Rialto Theatre at GSU also sustained roof damage, which in turn caused water damage inside.

Further east, Grady Hospital reported some damage to windows and a brief power outage. Many of the injured were taken there, and some walked there and were treated in the emergency room for cuts due to glass. The King Memorial MARTA station was damaged and was being bypassed by trains, with buses rerouted to the next station on each side. Oakland Cemetery suffered major damage to monuments and to its huge oaks and magnolias, and the caretaker found window blinds around the neck of a statue of a Civil War veteran buried there.

File:Tornado sm010.jpg

A 100-year-old Water oak tree crushes a GMC van in the North Ormewood Park neighborhood.

Tree uprooted in the Cabbagetown neighborhood, taking most of the yard with it.

In the nearby Cabbagetown area, a brick loft building (well known for the fire that occurred there in 1999, during its renovation from the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills, in which the crane operator was rescued by helicopter during live TV news coverage) lost part of its roof, and part of the top (fifth) floor. Another building at The Stacks on Boulevard partially collapsed; search and rescue personnel were unable to enter, but everyone was accounted for by the management within a few hours.

When the tornado hit, a SEC tournament game between Mississippi State and Alabama which had just been sent into overtime minutes earlier by a shot from Mykal Riley, was in progress at the Georgia Dome. The storm ripped panels from the exterior of the building and tore at least two holes in the roof of the Dome, causing insulation to fall and the scoreboard and catwalks suspended from the roof to sway. Mykal Riley's shot was considered to have saved lives by keeping people safe inside the Georgia Dome. After a 64-minute delay, the game was completed, however the next scheduled game between Kentucky and Georgia was postponed. The remainder of the tournament games were played at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Georgia Tech, with spectators restricted to team and conference personnel, media, team bands, and families of players only due to the much smaller size of the alternate venue. At the nearby Philips Arena, little disruption was noticed by the attendees during the game between the Hawks and the Los Angeles Clippers, even though damage occurred to the outside of the arena.

Twenty-seven people were treated for injuries. In addition, over 20 homes were completely destroyed.

Tornado damage on Marietta Street in front of CNN Center / Omni Hotel

All of CNN's TV networks remained on the air, but there was damage to the glass roof of the CNN Center atrium, flooding part of the food court. Additionally, blown-out windows in the ground floor CNN.com newsroom and the fourth floor videotape library caused minor damage. Live news coverage of the aftermath was carried on CNN International, in turn simulcast domestically on CNN until 1 am EDT. CNN resumed broadcasting from their main newsroom at 6 am EDT, showing several parts of the newsroom with computer stations covered with tarps, the damaged atrium of CNN Center, and staff using trash cans and buckets to collect dripping rainwater to the right of the anchor desk due to the damaged roof. When more storms moved in later in the day, the network was forced to move all Atlanta on-camera operations to the windowless CNN-I studio, while taped programming was shown for most of the day.

The city received emergency assistance from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), Highway Emergency Response Operators (HEROs), Fulton and DeKalb counties (where Atlanta is situated), and surrounding cities and counties. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin also declared a state of emergency for the city and Governor Sonny Perdue issued a state state of emergency declaration for Atlanta enabling the city to seek disaster aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). President Bush declared a major disaster on March 20.

The Atlanta tornado severely damaged this Loft building on March 14, 2008

In raw U.S. dollars, it was the most expensive tornado in American history after the 1999 Oklahoma City tornado, costing a half-billion dollars. When adjusted for inflation, it ranks ninth.

See also

• List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
• List of tornadoes striking downtown areas
• Tornadoes of 2008

External links

• Possible Tornado Sweeps Through Atlanta - CNN Breaking News Transcript - March 14, 2008
• WSB's coverage of the tornado
• WXIA's coverage of the tornado
• WAGA's coverage of the tornado
• WGCL's coverage of the tornado