RARE Tornado rips through downtown Atlanta! A Swede reacts!

well hello welcome back to wcky and of course we're going to check out another storm stories and this one actually caught my eye it says rare tornado rips through Atlanta what do they mean with rare well we're going to find out if you haven't checked out the Weather Channel yet you find the link for the video and of course for the channel you find them located right down there in the description go there and give them the support that they so much deserve if you do enjoy this hit the like and the Subscribe a big thank you to everyone who supports me on patreon and recs on channel membership a big shout out to the Supreme te donators over by Pon and of course thank you I got confused a big thank you to everyone who supports me through Supreme tier donators thank you personal shout outs to Ultimate supporters is deja wal Dwayne Dana Troy Robert Matt Barbara gathy Sarah and Terry now let's go to Atlanta and find out what the hell they mean with a rare tornado there was only one tornado that night and it just happened to be right in downtown Atlanta how could this possibly happen you don't pay attention to the weather forecast it's in a doome I'm hearing what I I know is the sound of a freight train you're hearing some rumbling behind us you could hear pipes being snapped you could hear wire sparking we didn't know if the main part of the building was standing the whole wall was gone the roof was gone it looked a little bit like a war zone I honestly did not want to go back and look for my friends mainly because I didn't want to see my best friend dead from The Weather Channel this is Storm stories with meteorologist Jim [Music] cantori I think I'm already nervous without a doubt when people hear the word tornado they think of the ominous gray twist ERS so often seen tearing across the open Plains of Tornado Alley torrential downpours hail devastating winds many forget that large Urban centers can also be hit and I think that's something I is it rare that tornadoes rip through like downtown well I'm going to watch a video now but in general it feel like they normally just goes on in the country like on the Open Fields and poor Village or towns that happen to be in the the path towns and major cities certainly are not immune to tornadoes it's purely just a matter of the statistics in the land area that a downtown of a city represents a very very small percentage of the whole state or the United States and when the rare tornado hits a metropolitan area packed with unsuspecting residents the results can be catastrophic so they mean rare like it's rare that it rips through uh downtown Friday night March 14th 2008 downtown Atlanta is filled with people attending conventions parties and sporting events few know on this balmy spring evening that a supercell is developing just Northwest of the city a powerful tornado is about to plow through the heart of downtown [Music] Atlanta thousands of unsuspecting fans are packed into the Georgia Dome for the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament Raycom Sports is broadcasting the live event and Tim Brando is their play-by-play commentator it was a very important game was the quarterfinal round you're playing to win your way into March Madness Mississippi state is playing Alabama it's great ball game and it comes down to the end of regulation and a and a player by the name of Mel Riley for Alabama hits a three-point shot with pretty much no time on the clock to force overtime Riley for three go got it the iron was kind we're going to overtime I just got bumps and so the whole you know Georgia Dome everyone's going crazy we just had a buzzer beater to tie the game we're going to overtime baby this is great stuff just as the Roar of the crowd Thunders through the Dome weather channel meteorologist Stu Ostro makes his way into the downtown MARTA train station after leaving early from the Atlanta Hawks game at Philips Arena didn't see anything no Thunder no no lightning no wind nothing went down into the train station and thought but everything was normal Ostro receives an automated severe thunderstorm warning on his cell phone for decab County just east of downtown Atlanta I looked at the radar on my cell phone and I thought hm that sure looks like a super cell thunderstorm but it was Tiny so I couldn't really tell and weather was the farthest thing from my mind everything seemed like a nice normal bommy march night in Atlanta within seconds the super cell picks up speed as rain and hail crash down upon the city totally unaware fans watch as Mississippi State in Alabama play into overtime CLE foul but the pressure cooker inside is suddenly overshadowed by the dramatic weather engulfing the Dome the storm is so powerful it interferes with the television signal from the game the ball is being brought up the court there's a foul at the time the foul is committed the whistle blows and the rumbling begins and you can tell something is not right G is fouled by Stewart that's a block and uh we're hearing some rumbling behind us at that point in my headphones I'm hearing what I I know is the sound of a freight train just outside the Dome Raycom producer David baringer and his crew try to hold strong against the brutal winds tormenting their trucks the truck started moving back and forth and started shaking and and everybody inside the truck kind of looked at each other and we're like what's going on and and you looked and it just shaking them moving around and you're talking about a big production truck you know it's a big 18wheeler production truck just moving and bouncing around associate producer Alex fantino who is seeing the powerful effects of the tornado inside the Dome is terrified by the chaos he hears unfolding in the production truck outside I hear everyone in the truck over the headset starts screaming and that's like just kind of this whoa whoa what's what's that what's going on and we're kind of listening and thinking what in the world well then you look on the TV and then things are shaking and you know the cat loocks swinging back and forth we look up and a camera takes a scoreboard and the scoreboards rocking back and forth and you're talking about a big scoreboard in the middle of the Georgia doome rocking back and forth an ef2 tornado is hammering through the center of downtown Atlanta causing destruction inside of buildings and Arenas filled with unsuspecting people but a tornado is the last thing on anyone's mind in fact in its over 100e history a tornado has never hit downtown Atlanta first thing you think of first thing I thought of it just went I said oh my this a bomb a terrorist attack or something it's first thing you think of it just you know because what's going to move a truck what's going to make the scoreboard Bounce Around still underground and shielded from the storm Ostro does not make the connection we're waiting in the train station and everything seems okay but then we noticed there's some sort of haze coming down the tracks and I thought that's odd what could be causing that Haze it wasn't foggy outside so it's not that I didn't really think anything further of it but above ground the metro area appears under attack and by the time the storm leaves one person will be dead and 30 injured among those who are suddenly caught off guard as the fast moving storm arrives on the outskirts of the city are James McConnell and April Donaldson it was like wind coming this way and then it turned around and wind started coming from the other direction we're like oh and just started running and I glanced back and then James was like there's a tornado and across the street and I was like who what is the tornado it was about two stories tall and wider than the street that was coming down we just kept trying to run we were just trying to run from it with the tornado literally looming down on them James and April die for their lives behind a neighbor's house there was a billboard spinning in the air and we were getting hit with debris like I remember thinking like it's either going to come and like Lift us up or we're going to get hit with something really heavy it just sounded like my brain telling me you're going to die back at the Dome Tim Brando ships from reporting on the but I'm trying to figure out why there was no warnings I don't understand who did not foresee that shit's going to hit the fan game to chronicling the scary events unfolding inside the arena debris had fallen onto the uh Arena floor there were these washers that fell from uh nuts and bolts that were in the top of the Dome that had come unhinged and fallen on the court this is a piece of debris one of the hinges that fell onto the court one of our technicians picked it up and brought it to me a moment ago you could see some of the uh debris it almost looks like feathers and what it was was part of the styrofoam contents of the top of the Dome so you knew that whatever had happened it caused enough structural damage that the actual lining of the Dome had come apart of the seams when you look up you see holes in the Georgia Dome you don't know if the rof going to came in you don't know what's going to happen at that time the noises from a loud Stampede echo in the arena as fans and the bleachers Beneath The Swinging Rafters run for their safety at that point I was really concerned because then it's not just a situation where uh the weather outside is having an impact on what's going on inside but the Panic of those inside could be causing another issue altogether people they were just white it was very strange the looks in people's eyes were kind of you know what's going on people were leaving that is probably the worst situation I mean I'm I understand that the tornado that's ripping through Atlanta is definitely one of the worst thing that could happen but then again we're talking about a ton of people inside the Dome understanding the the danger that is coming and trying to get the hell out of Dodge that's probably one of the worst thing that could happen because people in panic or dangerous okay Friday night March 14th 2008 a supercell has spawned a tornado that is barreling its way through the heart of downtown Atlanta causing major property damage and catching those in its path by complete surprise play is stopped at the Mississippi state Alabama basketball game in the Georgia Dome and after several minutes an arena announcer informs confused fans of the severe weather in downtown Atlanta ladies and gentlemen severe weather conditions ladies and gentlemen the National Weather Service is reporting severe weather in downtown Atlanta pH free to remain in the Georgia Dome until the storm has passed still exist in downtown Atlanta thank you for your patience last thing you think is a is a weather situation you don't pay attention to the weather forecast it's in a dome it's in a Georgia Dome in just seconds an ef2 tornado with wind speeds up to 130 mph leaves a dark and devastating backdrop of Twisted Metal strewn debris blown out Hotel windows and crushed cars in the city's downtown area it doesn't take long for the Raycom production crew to realize what could have happened if male Riley had not sunk that three-point shot sending the game into overtime oh I dare say at least five or or 10,000 people could have been exiting the Georgia Dome had that ball not gone through the hoop and I think that's that's the real story here is that young man he may have saved some lives miraculously no serious injuries are reported from the downtown area I never thought about that but it's not over yet back across town James and April are face to face with the tornado I thought it was going to pass out every time I think of it it's like that was something really strange and wild that we survived and I don't know how it changed Direction uh on the on the street where we were it it turned right James and April narrowly escaped sure disaster but now the Tado is heading straight for the cotton mill Lofts a historic residential complex in Cabbagetown about 3 m east of the Georgia Dome Lauren Weiss is hosting a dinner party in her new apartment on the top floor of the Lofts with friends Vanessa elen and PJ bulock PJ brings his new 8-week old puppy Jackson to share in the event the evening is about to take a disastrous turn after dinner we were sitting around just didn't have the TV on kind of just enjoying each other's company and talking so it started to rain and the storm was picking up I got up to close the window and I couldn't close the window we all kind of stood up because we thought it was really odd that she had had to put that much force on the window and right when we all stood up we started to notice in the far back corner of the unit dust falling from the [Music] ceiling at the same time Lauren's downstairs neighbor John Washington Jr also notices something is terribly wrong far away you can see the power line exploding and that's when I knew okay this is not normal because it was coming towards me I felt the ground trembling and then before I knew it it was like the lights blew by the time the lights blew I mean I took off and that's when I ran and I jumped inside the bathroom upstairs at Lauren's dinner party things are quickly progressing from bad to worse I looked up and I saw the corner of the building kind of bouncing the windows started to slowly crack and all of a sudden the roof just peeled back like a can of sardines um it was just a huge snap the ceiling collapsed in on us the walls collapsed in on us the floor was buckling underneath me which was really strange because the floor is concrete there was no time for me to think about what was actually happening to me it was just happening back downstairs John takes refuge in his bathtub he can only imagine the destruction happening around him the ceilings is like pancake down on the other side on the on the far corner and to hear the cement and the building shake and everything is still going is just like where am I I'm not falling but I hear things falling what is going on upstairs in a state of panic PJ escapes from Lauren's collapsing apartment into the hallway separating himself from his friends the wind was pushing me down the hallway and pitch black dark using the lightning bolts as a way to sort of light my way down the hallway you know just kind of accepted the fact that this might be you know the last moments on earth andly when I finally made it to the corridor I was in I took off full speed running down the hallway as the remaining part of the ceiling crashed behind me inside the apartment Lauren and Vanessa dodg flying bricks and falling debris I just remember the dust and the sparking I remember squeezing on to Vanessa very tightly we were just holding on as tightly as we could to each other I wonder why he just bolted out of there from the bathroom below John Hears A terrifying sound I heard a scream like never ever before from Lauren I mean it was a scream like my life is in danger type of scream as quickly as the storm arrives it's over I got my flashlight and that's when I looked on the wall behind me and my whole wall had just split all the way across John makes his way safely out of the building to the street meanwhile having taken refuge in the laundry room PJ fears the worst for his friends I waited for a good 15 seconds for everything to die down and then I was kind of stuck in a mental tug of war I honestly did not want to go back and look for my friends mainly because I feared for the worst I just kind of knew that they were probably hurt in the storm and were probably crushed under you know a pile of bricks and uh you know my body just took me where my mind didn't want to I eventually started making my way back to look for him back in Lauren's apartment the dust settles but panic and confusion suddenly Rises it was Stillness the only sounds that were there were you know the wires crackling and the whole wall was gone the roof was gone I mean it happened all within 20 30 seconds I think part of my unit had been blown into the hallway and at that point I remember hyperventilating because we didn't know how sturdy the building was I didn't know what had happened honestly at the time I didn't know if it was a storm if it was a bomb soon after they begin to look for PJ to his great relief PJ hears his friends calling out for him they were screaming my name um and I heard him as I started coming down the hallway and uh that was that was probably the best moment you know when I heard my friends calling for me and knowing that they were at least still alive amazingly no one is seriously injured but it's not over yet now they must find their way out of the chro uming building all of a sudden PJ realizes that his puppy is missing most likely under piles of debris when we finally you know reunited we realized that we were missing the dog and made a split-second decision that we we had to worry about ourselves first we had to get out of the building cuz it was [Music] unstable yeah that wouldn't be me I don't know about you I will look for my dog I will never forget my dog I will grab my dog and run I don't understand how you can do I don't understand how you can do that maybe it's just me but I would never leave my dog in that situation especially a puppy that is just me Friday night March 14th 2008 a powerful tornado has just plowed through metropolitan Atlanta Lauren Weiss and her friends are trying to make their way out of Lauren's fourth floor apartment in the severely damaged cotton mill Lofts fearing for their own safety they have left PJ's lost puppy behind I didn't have any shoes the hallway had collapsed in and since we're in the corner we couldn't really get out to the main part of the building we were extremely vulnerable cuz there's no longer a roof over our heads we finally got over this huge piece of the sheetrock that had fallen into the hallway and just were walking two of the emergency exits were blocked by debris couldn't use those stairwells and then we finally found a stairwell at the very end of the hallway that we used to make our way down and out of the building having finally escaped the Friends start to fully comprehend the magnitude of the storm it looked like a war zone I mean the the whole complex was covered what did they did they say that there was an ef2 I would never understand that like an ef2 can make this amount of damage with debris and bricks and I remember there's a a water tower here and the top of the water Tower had been blown off I think we're lucky to be alive I think that it's a miracle that you know one piece of the window didn't hit us shaken but okay Lauren and her friends leave the destruction the Rarity of the events unfolding across the city quickly fascinates geography Professor Dr Marshall Shepard of the University of Georgia when all of this started occurring I immediately knew that this had to be a tornado because of the height that some of the buildings were being reported to be damaged so I ran to my laptop and started saving some of the National Weather Service radar images uh because I knew that this was a special event Shephard and colleague Dr Dev neogi of Purdue University also began a study of the Atlanta tornado what was interesting is that Atlanta and Georgia was suffering from one of the most severe droughts on record that's an extreme climate event Shephard uses weather models to re-engineer the Atlanta storm in his lab the result results are fascinating there was rainfall a few days earlier the in the midst of this drought that caused moist Pockets or certain areas of the soil to be more moist and so in our re-engineering of the storm we found evidence that these moist Pockets may have served to give the storms a boost as they were moving towards the Atlanta area and then as they got closer to Atlanta the urban effects the heat island and the convergence may have given it an additional boost Shephard insists that more research is needed one one of the things that our research has suggested is that we need to know more about how the cities and their environment interact with weather and climate processes arriving home from downtown Stu Ostro turns on the television I saw the images all coming from downtown Atlanta I thought I was right there we were in that Underground Station when the tornado passed overhead and that Haze that I had seen coming down the tracks from the outside was debris that had been kicked up by the tornado oh okay there's a couple minutes left two minutes left I think a very [Music] weird luckily tornado hits are rare in major metropolitan cities but on March 14th 2008 an ef2 tornado ripped through the heart of downtown Atlanta stretching over a 6-mile path it caused over $250 million in damage part of the reason there was so much damage is that you have quite a bit of infrastructure in a concentrated area on his fourth trip back to the cotton mill lofts in the two days since the tornado hit PJ asked firefighters to look for his puppy one last time they made one last sweep to look for the dog the firefighter then proceeded to climb along the edge go in between all the bricks and and pull the dog out and it was it's pretty amazing you know what they did for us for the Weather Channel I'm meteorologist Jim Cantor your local forecast is next I got to tell you that it's remarkable how different people react when they have pets I mean if this little butthole over here is in danger I will probably do anything in my power to get her out but that's just me and I have never been in a situation where I need to do that but I feel it in my soul and the bottom of my heart I would never leave her uh to F fend for herself in a situation where I I cannot fend for myself but that's just me an insane Story another insane video from The Weather Channel and this was the rare tornado that rips through to Atlanta which the rare thing was actually ripping through downtown Atlanta and I feel like if I was in the dome I would probably get into a panic state of mind which most actually did and that would be completely a catastrophe in the sense of people who actually running out during the event luckily that guy actually made a three-pointer which mean that the game actually went into overtime and actually kept 99% of all the people uh inside the dome which is incredible it would be total devastation if they if that three pointer didn't go in and that is giving me goosebumps thank you so much for watching I'm Ricky you stay safe