2 Dead In Severe Georgia Storm

Latest Storm Sweeping Southeast Follows Friday's Tornado That Rattled Skyscrapers, Basketball Arena

(CBS/AP)  Officials in Polk County have confirmed at least two deaths resulting from Saturday's severe weather.

CBS Affiliate WGCL reports that a person died on Bon Loop Road, but they could not confirm whether the person died in a house. The second fatality was reported in Floyd County.

Also in Polk County, railroad traffic has been stopped due to trees that have been blown down onto the tracks.

The severe weather system stretching through Alabama and into Georgia follows Friday tornado that caught Atlanta residents by surprise.

That storm smashed hundreds of skyscraper windows, blew furniture and luggage out of hotel rooms, crumbled part of an apartment building and rattled a packed sports arena.

National Weather Service meteorologist Barry Gooden said the tornado that swept through downtown Atlanta on Friday night produced winds up to 110 miles an hour - making it a strength EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

It then grew into an EF2 tornado. He said the weather service describes such a tornado as having winds up to 135 miles an hour, ultimately carving a six-mile long path.

Streets around the Georgia Dome, Phillips Arena, the CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park were littered with broken glass, downed power lines, crumbled bricks, insulation and the occasional office chair. Billboards collapsed onto parked cars.

CNN says its headquarters building sustained ceiling damage that allowed water to pour into the atrium, and windows were shattered in the CNN.com newsroom and the company's library. A water line inside the building broke, turning a staircase into a waterfall.

"It was crazy. There was a lot of windows breaking and stuff falling," said Terrence Evans, a valet who was about to park a car at the Omni Hotel when the twister hit.

Although a tornado warning was issued, there was no announcement of the approaching storm for the 18,000 fans inside the Georgia Dome for the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament. The first sign was rumbling and the rippling of the fabric roof.

Catwalks swayed and insulation rained down on players during overtime of the Mississippi State-Alabama game, sending fans fleeing toward the exits and the teams to their locker rooms.

"I thought it was a tornado or a terrorist attack," said Mississippi State guard Ben Hansbrough, whose team won 69-67 after an hour-long delay under a roof with at least two visible tears. A later game between Georgia and Kentucky was postponed. SEC officials said the tournament's remaining games would be played at Georgia Tech.

"Ironically, the guy behind me got a phone call saying there was a tornado warning," fan Lisa Lynn said. "And in two seconds, we heard the noise and things started to shake. It was creepy."

At least 27 people were hurt Friday night, though no injuries were believed to be life-threatening.

Power was knocked out to about 19,000 customers.

More thunderstorms headed across northern Alabama toward the city Saturday. "We're bracing for another round of whatever Mother Nature throws at us," said Lisa Janak of the state emergency management agency.

All downtown events scheduled for Saturday were canceled, including the St. Patrick's Day parade.

"It's a mess," Janak said.

A loft apartment building had severe damage to one corner and appeared to have major roof damage. Property manager Darlys Walker said there was one minor injury.

Taylor Morris, 29, who lives near the lofts, said he and his girlfriend took shelter in the bathroom.

"The whole house was shaking," he said. "We didn't know what was going on."

Fire Capt. Bill May said a vacant building also collapsed, with no apparent injuries.

Grady Memorial Hospital, the city's large public hospital where many of the injured were taken, had broken windows but was operating as usual.

In East Atlanta, downed trees, debris and power lines were strewn in the streets.

Melody and Brad Sorrells were home in their living room with their two children when the storm hit, and the huge pine in their front yard crash into their house.

"I saw it falling and we ran into the back bedrooms in the closet," Melody Sorrels said. "I feel sick."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association said the last tornado to hit a major city's downtown was on Aug. 12, 2004, in Jacksonville, Fla. Downtown tornadoes have also struck Fort Worth, Texas; Salt Lake City; Little Rock, Ark.; and Nashville, Tenn., in the past decade.

The tornado is the first on record in downtown Atlanta, said Smith, the meteorologist. The last tornado to strike inside the city was in 1975, and it hit the governor's mansion north of downtown, he said.

[al2008-2009]

I%u2019m appalled at the governor%u2019s lack of response to the global warming tornadoes.
We have no comprehensive strategy in place whatsoever, let alone a detailed plan of action to mitigate the effects of these tornadoes, and mother earth continues to suffer while the governor%u2019s office refuses to go forward and do what%u2019s right for our mother.
.
How long must we sit idly by while our mother continues to suffer from the warming taking place at a feverish pace? How long must our mother suffer before we have proper c02 taxes put into place? How long must the destruction of mother earth take place before we finally put responsible plans into action?
.
We the people call upon the governor to implement a comprehensive antiglobal warming strategy at once and work in coordination with state and federal officials; these tornadoes and storms continue to worsen and the quicker we stop the warming the sooner we will be able to stop the havoc and destruction these storms wreak on mother earth. We need action now.

[al2008-2009]

I%u2019m appalled at the governor%u2019s lack of response to the global warming tornadoes.
We have no comprehensive strategy in place whatsoever, let alone a detailed plan of action to mitigate the effects of these tornadoes, and mother earth continues to suffer while the governor%u2019s office refuses to go forward and do what%u2019s right for our mother.
.
How long must we sit idly by while our mother continues to suffer from the warming taking place at a feverish pace? How long must our mother suffer before we have proper c02 taxes put into place? How long must the destruction of mother earth take place before we finally put responsible plans into action?
.
We the people call upon the governor to implement a comprehensive antiglobal warming strategy at once and work in coordination with state and federal officials; these tornadoes and storms continue to worsen and the quicker we stop the warming the sooner we will be able to stop the havoc and destruction these storms wreak on mother earth. We need action now.

[al2008-2009]

I%u2019m appalled at the governor%u2019s lack of response to the global warming tornadoes.
We have no comprehensive strategy in place whatsoever, let alone a detailed plan of action to mitigate the effects of these tornadoes, and mother earth continues to suffer while the governor%u2019s office refuses to go forward and do what%u2019s right for our mother.
.
How long must we sit idly by while our mother continues to suffer from the warming taking place at a feverish pace? How long must our mother suffer before we have proper c02 taxes put into place? How long must the destruction of mother earth take place before we finally put responsible plans into action?
.
We the people call upon the governor to implement a comprehensive antiglobal warming strategy at once and work in coordination with state and federal officials; these tornadoes and storms continue to worsen and the quicker we stop the warming the sooner we will be able to stop the havoc and destruction these storms wreak on mother earth. We need action now.

[al2008-2009]

I%u2019m appalled at the governor%u2019s lack of response to the global warming tornadoes.
We have no comprehensive strategy in place whatsoever, let alone a detailed plan of action to mitigate the effects of these tornadoes, and mother earth continues to suffer while the governor%u2019s office refuses to go forward and do what%u2019s right for our mother.
.
How long must we sit idly by while our mother continues to suffer from the warming taking place at a feverish pace? How long must our mother suffer before we have proper c02 taxes put into place? How long must the destruction of mother earth take place before we finally put responsible plans into action?
.
We the people call upon the governor to implement a comprehensive antiglobal warming strategy at once and work in coordination with state and federal officials; these tornadoes and storms continue to worsen and the quicker we stop the warming the sooner we will be able to stop the havoc and destruction these storms wreak on mother earth. We need action now.

[usbrit-2009]

Sorry to hear about the damage in Atlanta - here''s hoping y''all get the help you need and fast. I heard there was a second system in NW Georgia - anyone know if Dalton was affected?

[jenksmarkymaypo]

Oh, uh, i mean the horseshoe crabs or something like that there.

[jenksmarkymaypo]

All this and more to come, because nobody helped the sea urchins when they were going extinct. Now they expel the wrath of the devil to git revenge!

[dowjones20k]

You folks need to get a life. These tornados weren''''t caused by God or Bush. Do something helpful and help us out after these storms roll through. I spent three hours this morning helping dig one of my neighors out of the ruins of her house

Posted by nuke4444 at 05:09 PM : Mar 15, 2008

Thoughts & Prayers to you and your neighbors ...

And yes, I concur that anyone who tries to place blame on the president is a kook ...

Meteroligists cant predict anything, only react .. mother nature follows no map, no computer, no forecast and certainly no satellite ...

Folks need to take a breath and actually think before they post ...

Good Luck !!

[patriotic9]

We want our tax money to be spent in Atlanta and at the same time, I demand our government to stop giving our tax dollars in the name of REBUILDING IRAQ and our WEAPONS in the name of ARMING IRAQI SECURITY FORCES to an IRANIAN-BASED ISLAMIC RADICAL "MALIKI" for the killing of our finest men and women in uniform.

[bhappy2-2]

I wish the best for everyone touched by this. My condolences to the families and friends of the deceased.

I hope it didn''t harm The Pleasant Pheasant. I had a business meeting in Atlanta a few years back and we all went there for dinner. It was such a pleasure, and excellent food.

[ttrye]

Our life are short, so everyone of us should enjoy every day in our life, I found a nice site recently and I got pleasure from there, I wish everyone can get pleasure from the site, it called%u201D militaryfriends.com/blog/military_single%u201D

[stn_sage]

Good luck to nuke4444 and the other citizens of Atlanta, hopefully your weather will stabilize & you can begin clean up operations.

True, arguing whether God did this of his own volition or because of Bush, is pretty meaningless in the scheme of things. It might be emotionally satisfying, but it isn''t particularly helpful.

Mr. Bush---as much as I disapprove of most of his behavior---can''t be everywhere at each storm site following an occurance. He has to pick and choose.
At times, it''s necessary to allow state & local officials to handle the situation, to trust them to do the job. In most cases, they will! :)

[michellem99-2009]

What I meant is Bush is there where yer don''t want him or not.It is awful. Ye and yers are thot of.

[Latrocinor]

Before the loser libs ask it , i will....how come Bush isnt in atlanta yet?

Posted by jwind11 at 09:33 AM : Mar 15, 2008

------------------------------------------------------------------------


...Seeing that Bush is the only government official in the country, obviously he can''t be everywhere.

[zootallures2]

To the_snitch: go f*ck yourself.
You folks need to get a life. These tornados weren''''t caused by God or Bush. .............

You talk like someone did something wrong?
It''s your philosphy that there is no right and wrong, just creating your own reality, opinions, and mob rule. That''s why smarter people from the previous generation didn''t do things that way.

[patriotic9]

I spent three hours this morning helping dig one of my neighors out of the ruins of her house. This afternoon another tornado took out three more houses in our subdivion
Posted by nuke4444 at 05:14 PM : Mar 15, 2008

I wish you guys all the best. I am now searching to find airline ticket to get there. Do you think Atlanta Airport is in operating condition. We should all do someting to practically help the fellow citizens there.

[nuke4444]

You folks need to get a life. These tornados weren''t caused by God or Bush. Do something helpful and help us out after these storms roll through. I spent three hours this morning helping dig one of my neighors out of the ruins of her house. This afternoon another tornado took out three more houses in our subdivion. The national weather service says we can expect tornados in the local area until 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. I''ve been in tornados all over this country, but I''ve never seen a system like this. Fortunately, even though there have been many injuries, there have only been two fatalities that they know of. We''ve had hail the size of baseballs twice today. We''ve been lucky. Our house has been untouched and our vehicles were in the garage.

***. The sky is getting black again and the weather radio alarm just went off.

[hawksprings]

"If god does exist and bible is book of god, why god always punish bible belt for supporting bush in the killing of innocent civilians for the second coming of christ?"
Posted by patriotic9

patriot,
How do you know that''s why He''s punishing them?
Maybe he''s punishing them for Ted Turner and Jane Fonda. After all, the twister did a number on the CNN building.

[prairiefox1]

DID THE TORNADO TAKE OUT THE IRS BUILDING IN ATLANTA?
I WOULD BE HAPPIER THAN A PIG IN FRESH POOP IF IT DID!

[underdogus]

The weather did this not God Posted by MichelleM99...All you need to do is search out scriptures and see that we are ripe for judgment. GOD is going to shake you! get ready and know it is Him. expect earthquakes,famine, dead economy, death,pesteline, destruction,floods,and war......