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AN F2 TORNADO!

Flashback to yesterday morning when i get a call from my mom...

"Hello?"

"Are you alright?"

"Uh, yyyyyeah."

"Well, what about that tornado?"

"Um, what tornado?"

"The one that's all over the news!"

"What? Where? HERE?"

"Yes, dear, a tornado went through Atlanta and it's been all over the TV and you really should know what I'm talking about since you live there."

"Well, um, there was some rain last night and the thunder scared the cats, but..."

"But you're alright, if not very sharp, so I'll just let you get back to bed or another cup of coffee or whatever else it is you need to do."

Flashforward to this morning when i drive into work.

Oh wow.

Downtown is STILL jacked-up 36 hours later. Streets are blocked. Traffic lights are out. There's debris strewn everywhere (trash and sticks and aluminum siding and glass). There's also a very conspicuous row of Georgia Power trucks parked outside our building. Something definitely happened here.

Apparently Friday night's tornado was 200 yards wide, 135 mph strong, and it rumbled 6 miles through the city of Atlanta. If only I'd been notified, i might've been able to do something about it. As it was, it crashed down near the World Congress center, trampled the Omni hotel, and knocked over some towers in Olympic Park. It blew out windows, knocked over some walls, and uprooted a bunch of trees. So far there've been no fatalities reported in conjunction with the twister, but the state's Insurance Commissioner estimates there was about $150 million in damage.

-And through it all, i was blissfully unaware. While i watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7 on DVD. (In my defence, episode 5 "Selfless" is, seriously, one of the best episodes of television ever.)

[UPDATE: Monday (after the Friday twister) and downtown Atlanta is still jacked up. Cranes are all around. You can hear chainsaws, you can hear police whistles (no lights at alotta intersections), and everybody's got a terrible commuting/parking story to tell. Apparently $150,000,000 worth of damage hurts a LOT. It'll be weeks before everything's fixed.]

PHOTOS! http://www.flickr.com/photos/keeferman