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Storms Give Atlantans Reason to Beware the Ides of March

The last 24 hours have given Atlantans good reason to beware the Ides of March. It was quite a surreal night and day from my vantage point in Grant Park, just a half mile or so south of the Cabbagetown neighborhood (on local and national TV news continuously since last last night), and about a mile or so from CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park. Thanks to Tivo, I was not watching live TV last night, and was oblivious to any approaching storm. There was lightening far in the distance, but nothing that seemed at all alarming. Then, suddenly, it was chaos all around me. The power was flickering on and off in rapid bursts. The lightening was suddenly very strong and very close. I ran upstairs to shut down my computer and grab my weather radio. Looking outside, I saw neighbors run from their car in a torrential rain. I stepped outside and asked, “Are there tornado warnings or anything?” No one knew anything. The rain became horizontal, and wind was swirling in dramatically different directions, turning instantly. I saw nothing other than swaying trees and rain, but the sound took me several seconds to process. It was a very strange moment, followed by many similar moments throughout the day today.

More storms hit Georgia this afternoon, with many likely tornados north of the city. Another, smaller tornado as spotted just south of here, adding to already frayed nerves. Huddled in my bathroom with two dogs and one cat (with another cat M.I.A.), I listened to the wind whip around the house, and hail hitting the windows. After the storms began to calm, I took the short walk up toward Cabbagetown, and was stunned to see how extensive the damage truly is, with so many homes badly damaged in addition to the lofts. Sadly, dozens of large trees were knocked over, or had their tops twisted off, in historic Oakland cemetery. I took a few photos, and I’ve included a few in this post.  You can also see a slideshow here. We were lucky in Grant Park, where barely a limb seems to have fallen in my immediate area. Our neighbors just across I-20 in Cabbagetown were not so lucky.