EDITOR'S NOTE: AtlantaFalcons.com staffers Matt Moore and Al Daniel were at the Georgia Dome Friday night as a tornado caused major damage to the structure and the Georgia World Congress Center. Their accounts are included below as AF.com takes a look at that historic night and reports what's next for the Georgia Dome.
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Strong storms and a rare, downtown-centered tornado ripped through Atlanta Friday evening damaging the Georgia Dome, Georgia World Congress Center and residential neighborhoods. High winds were also responsible for blowing out windows in dozens of downtown buildings including The Omni and Westin hotels and the CNN Center.
Damage to the Georgia Dome, the Falcons' home field since 1992, forced the delay of a SEC tournament quarterfinal game between Mississippi State and Alabama. The other quarterfinal game between Georgia and Kentucky was moved to the following day and all remaining tournament games were played a few blocks away at Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
"About two-and-half minutes in to the overtime period of the Alabama-Mississippi State game I heard what I thought was a hard rain hitting the roof of the Dome," writes AF.com staffer Al Daniel in his blog. "When I looked up I noticed the roof of the Dome rippling like a flag waving in the wind. I honestly didn't think much of it. I assumed it was just a routine Georgia thunder storm.
"Then, a few moments later, I heard what sounded like a freight train coming from the North side of the stadium. I looked up again to find the hanging scoreboard, speaker system and (video board) rocking back and forth. I knew something wasn't right."
"It was just mass confusion," added Matt Moore. "I had heard there was bad weather in the area so at first I thought it was just heavy rain... Then I realized that this was much worse than just heavy rain. It almost felt like every person in the Dome started stomping their feet at the same time. The whole building was shaking."
Staff at the Georgia Dome acted quickly.
According to Ashley Boatman, public relations specialists for the Georgia Dome, fans were notified of weather conditions and emergency announcements were made "within seconds" of the tornado touching down.
Dome staff monitored the weather throughout the night and activated the first stages of the emergency plan as soon as the area was placed under a severe weather watch.
The decision to cancel the Georgia-Kentucky game was made within the scheduled 30-minute break between games. Dome officials allowed fans to leave when the weather cleared but made announcements regarding the weather and future storms.
"There's so many things to be thankful for," Boatman said. "We had fans where they needed to be. Everyone was inside. It was a safe and secure place for them to be while the weather wasn't viable to have pedestrians on the street."
Damages to other parts of the World Congress Center "campus," which includes the Georgia Dome, are being reviewed. Boatman said clean-up crews began working in the Dome immediately after fans left Friday night and that a team of engineers will check the structure "from top to bottom" over the next week.
According to the Dome's web site, all events through Friday have been canceled. Business offices at the Georgia World Congress Center Authority remain open, as do the Falcons ticket office at the Georgia Dome. Boatman said the reason for closing the Dome to events was made to give engineers full control of the building, not because of structural dangers.
Falcons assistant director of ticket operations Mike Gilsenan said the ticket office is running "business as usual" and that fans can come to the Dome to settle their season ticket account balances and take care of other ticket business.
As for repairing the Dome, Boatman said a plan will be determined for site-wide clean-up in the coming weeks. She said planned renovations to the stadium, which include Falcons-themed color additions, new seats and exterior paint, have been put on hold. There are no plans to stop the renovations, Boatman said.
"At this point it's one of those things where we're so grateful it happened when it did," said Boatman, adding the storm occurred while fans were within the Dome's safe walls."To us, every time we have any sort of situation we always want people to know safety and security is our top priority."
"No one in the crowd really seemed to panic," added Daniel. "You could see the fear and worry on people's face but, for the most part, everyone was fairly calm. It really was a surreal situation."
RELATED LINKS:
- BOARDS: Talk about storm damage on FalconsLIFE
- BLOGS: Off the Cuff with Mookie Dunkleman | Flipping Out with Falcon Al
- PHOTOS: Images of Georgia Dome damage from March 14
- 11ALIVE.COM: Storm coverage and photos from 11Alive
- AJC.COM: Continuing storm coverage from the Atlanta Journal Constitution
