2008 Atlanta Tornado

Metro Atlanta

2008 Atlanta Tornado

A tornado and severe storm hit downtown Atlanta on Friday, March 14, 2008. A look back.

Friday, March 14: One of the large decorative lights surrounding Centennial Olympic Park is blown over and destroyed. Downtown Atlanta and the surrounding areas were hit by a storm and tornado. Witnesses said it was like a train going down Marietta Street, which fronts CNN Center. Property damage was extensive.

Friday: The Fulton Cotton Mill lofts in the Cabbagetown neighborhood of Atlanta show heavy damage shortly after the storm rolled through. The Cabbagetown area was particularly hard-hit.

Friday: Basketball fans at the Georgia Dome looked up at damage to the roof in the minutes following the tornado downtown. Play at the men's SEC basketball tournament was stopped. Games were moved the following day to Georgia Tech.

Friday: Debris flies inside the Georgia Dome.

Friday: Downtown Atlanta including Centennial Park, CNN Center, the Georgia Dome and this Philips Arena sign were damaged. Debris littered the streets of downtown and surrounding areas.

Friday: A visitor to Atlanta's Omni Hotel surveys damage from a room.

Saturday, March 15: Gabrielle Mertz makes a call from her Cabbagetown home on Berean Avenue. An uprooted tree sits in her front yard, and she said much of the contents of her upstairs bedroom was sucked out a window.

Saturday: The Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts showed extensive damage.

Saturday: A downed tree was among graves in Oakland Cemetery. Sam Reed, sexton of Oakland Cemetery, said he was in the cemetery's bell tower when high winds hit the previoius night. He said 50 to 60 trees in the cemetery were damaged or destroyed, as well as many gravestones and memorials.

Saturday: State Representative Robin Shipp (D-Atlanta) talks with members of the Cabbagetown neighborhood. Residents, who were without electricty, requested assistance with extra police patrols and information about when power would be restored, whether water was safe to drink and how to start putting their neighborhood back together.

Saturday: From the air, the damage is clear in Vine City.

Saturday: University of Kentucky basketball fans wait outside Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum hoping to get in to see their team play Georgia in the SEC Tournament. The game was scheduled for Friday night in the Georgia Dome but was postponed. Most fans were kept out of the arena, and Georgia beat Kentucky then went on to win the tournament.

Saturday: People survey damage to the Fulton Cotton Mill lofts from DeKalb Avenue in Atlanta.

Saturday: Windows were seen blown out at the Westin Peachtree Plaza in downtown Atlanta.

Saturday: Unidentified workers clear up the mess at a public parking lot near Centennial Olympic Park.

Saturday: Michael Wesley leaned into his destroyed car on Nassau Street in downtown Atlanta.

Sunday, March 16: Gov. Sonny Perdue inspected damage at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Sunday: Elaine Jelks (right) and her husband James Doss show their distress over the tornado damage to their apartment in Vine City on Sunday, March 16. After suffering damage caused by the storm, Jelks apartment was then broken into.

Monday, March 17: An Atlanta police officer directed traffic downtown. Downed traffic lights made commuting difficult downtown.

Monday: The Atlanta skyline as seen from the Omni Hotel. Most companies at tornado-damaged downtown office buildings were open Monday, although it was anything from a normal start to the work week. Atlanta police asked people to stay away from downtown if they did not need to be there.

Monday: Larry McCuller, 60, from Decatur oversees work on his brother's East Atlanta home that was damaged. Volunteers from across Atlanta helped with the cleanup on Glenwood Avenue.

April 14: Atlanta City Council member Ceasar C. Mitchell (left) looked up at storm damage as he talked with Ed Walls, general manager of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel. A month after the tornado, damage downtown was still visible.

April 17: The Herndon Building, a 1924 office complex in downtown Atlanta, was damaged by the storm and was demolished April 17.

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Friday, March 14: One of the large decorative lights surrounding Centennial Olympic Park is blown over and destroyed. Downtown Atlanta and the surrounding areas were hit by a storm and tornado. Witnesses said it was like a train going down Marietta Street, which fronts CNN Center. Property damage was extensive.

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