ATLANTA — Tens of thousands of basketball fans at two arenas were perfectly safe, officials insisted Saturday, even though the crowds apparently weren’t warned about an approaching tornado — one that ravaged skyscrapers and injured dozens.
About 18,000 people were watching the collegiate Southeastern Conference men’s tournament Friday night at the Georgia Dome when its fabric roof began rippling, the catwalks above the court started swaying and chunks of insulation rained onto the players.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning about eight minutes before the twister hit, but it wasn’t clear when or whether that was passed on to fans, said Katy Pando, a dome spokeswoman. Fans said they never heard or saw one.
Another 16,000 fans watching an NBA game at Philips Arena, in the same complex as the dome, weren’t told of the weather, either. The arena apparently sustained little damage, said Atlanta Hawks spokesman Arthur Triche.
The tornado, with wind up to 130 mph, cut a 6-mile path through downtown Atlanta, smashing hundreds of windows in and around the CNN Center, blowing furniture and luggage out of hotel rooms and crumbling part of an apartment building. At least 27 people were hurt, though no injuries were thought to be life-threatening, and no injuries were reported at the arenas.
“I thought it was a tornado or a terrorist attack,” said Mississippi State guard Ben Hansbrough, whose team beat Alabama 69-67 after an hour-long delay under a roof with at least two visible tears.
Elsewhere in Georgia on Saturday, storms killed one person in Polk County and another in Floyd County, both near the Alabama line, emergency management officials said.
Crews hauled broken glass and furniture out of streets in downtown Atlanta, where all events scheduled for Saturday were canceled, including the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine estimated damage from Friday night’s storm at $150 million to $200 million, most of it at the Georgia World Congress Center, a state convention facility near the CNN Center and the Georgia Dome.
