Two cars are partially buried under the rubble of a twister-hit building. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)
Georgia officials say cleaning up the debris from the streets of downtown Atlanta won't take as long as repairing the financial damage caused by the tornado that ripped through the city's core.
Scrap metal dealer Jessie Callaway cautiously picks his way through the rubble of a brick building ripped apart by the tornado, March 16, 2008. Centennial Park area. (Dave Bender)
Scrap metal dealer, Jessie Callaway was born and grew up in the neighborhood. He's rummaging through a pile of metal shards in an old building. The twister ripped off two of the corner building's brick walls:
“Yeah, I clean up more ways than one. I'm fixin' to clean that up right now (laughs). It was devastating out here -- I just couldn't believe it -- I ain't never seen nothin' like this before in the state of Georgia.”
Several landmarks, including the Georgia World Congress Center, were in the path of the storm, which danced along the Atlanta skyline for about 20 minutes on Friday night. The city's main convention center and two major hotels find themselves hobbled as the convention season begins.
CNN Center and the Omni Hotel. TV trucks and cranes were a common sight in downtown Atlanta on Sunday morning. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender).
With the closing this weekend of the complex which includes the huge convention center, the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park, the facility lost the Atlanta Home Show, a dental convention and much of the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament.
Workmen at the Georgia World Congress Center sweep up shards of glass, as glazier crews behind them replace windows shattered in the storm. March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)
Dan Graveline, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center, said today on a walking tour with reporters and that it's still too early to add up the damage. Graveline says he hopes repairs will begin soon, starting with the areas that can be fixed most quickly. Graveline says the damage that can't be seen at a glance is also a concern.
Atlanta resident Terry Lewis, who came downtown to survey the mechanized clean-up wearing a hard-hat, compared it to the havoc in her East Atlanta Village neighborhood, where a number of families suffered significant damage to their homes and vehicles:
“This is stunning ... [but] it was actually kind of more heart-wrenching to see what was happening with my neighborhood and my neighbors; the amount of home damage and car damage... yeah – there's not a lot of people here, so you're not seeing the human toll you're seeing in the neighborhood.”
Governor Sonny Perdue, who also was at the news conference, expressed relief and gratitude for the minimal loss of life and quick response of emergency workers.
A sign company crew re-welds a fallen billboard behind a car, its roof collapsed from falling debris. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)Hotel officials say they are most concerned about getting the Georgia World Congress Center back into shape as a conference venue. They say their own facilities had minor damage in comparison.
The Westin Hotel is framed by a sign company's stinger truck cranes. Many of the hotel's windows were blown out by the winds. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)
Daniel Shmittou, whose renovation firm was called in to save a tornado-damaged structure on Saturday, has one word for the results:
“Devastating. I've been here since '79, and I've never seen anything like it. It's truly a sad day.”
Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who toured the area Saturday estimates the damages at upwards of 200 million dollars.
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(With The Associated Press)
