I’m piping mad right now. The events of the past three days involving a strong tornado and the SEC basketball tournament have steam pumping out of my ears. By now, we’ve all seen the video of the tornado striking the Georgia Dome during the Alabama/Mississippi State game on Friday night.
For many, many years, the biggest fear in the weather community with regards to tornadoes has been the fear of a large sporting event being struck by a large tornado. This tornado did become large and strong, producing high-EF2 damage later in its path. However, it was only at EF1 intensity near the Georgia Dome, and the dome itself was only struck by the inflow jet into the tornado.
“THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF SIMPSON AND
BURBANK STREETS IN THE VINE CITY NEIGHBORHOOD AT APPROXIMATELY 938
PM. THE TORNADO THEN TRACKED DUE EAST OVER THE CENTER OF THE
GEORGIA WORLD CONGRESS CENTER /ABOUT 100 YARDS NORTH OF THE GEORGIA
DOME WHERE AN SEC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT WAS TAKING PLACE/…ACROSS
THE CNN/OMNI HOTEL COMPLEX AND PHILLIPS ARENA /WHERE AN NBA
BASKETBALL GAME WAS UNDERWAY/…OVER THE EQUITABLE BANK
TOWER…ACROSS I-85/75 AT THE EDGEWOOD EXIT…AND THEN INTO THE
COTTON MILL LOFTS ACROSS FROM OAKLAND CEMETERY. FROM THIS
POINT…THE TORNADO WEAKENED BUT CAUSED SPOTTY TREE AND ROOF DAMAGE
INTO EXTREME WESTERN DEKALB COUNTY NEAR THE JUNCTION OF BRAEBURN AND
JOSEPHINE STREETS…WHERE IT LIFTED. THE TORNADO HAD A TOTAL PATH
LENGTH OF SIX MILES AND A MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH OF 200 YARDS AT ITS
MAXIMUM STRENGTH. MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS WERE ESTIMATED NEAR 130
MPH…WHICH IS A HIGH END EF2 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE. AS IT
MOVED ACROSS THE GWCC/CNN/OMNI COMPLEX…THE TORNADO WIDTH WAS ABOUT
100 YARDS WIDE AND PRODUCED HIGH EF1 WINDS OF ABOUT 100 MPH.”
A tornado warning was issued eight minutes prior to the storm’s arrival.
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
930 PM EDT FRI MAR 14 2008
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR…
CENTRAL FULTON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA
* UNTIL 1000 PM EDT
* AT 926 PM EDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 6 MILES WEST
OF ATLANTA…MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH. A TORNADO HAS NOT BEEN
SIGHTED…HOWEVER DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES STRONG ROTATION WITH
THIS STORM.
* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO
PIEDMONT PARK AND TURNER FIELD.
The obvious question must present itself in this situation. Why the hell was the basketball game still going on with the tornado warning in place? When in the world could the officials be thinking allowing a crowd of 25,000+ people and two college basketball teams be in the open area of a stadium with a tornado warning in progress? Was there a plan for the event of a tornado warning? Or do they just not care about the safety of customers and players?
In either case, there is a total lack of respect for the lives of customers and players on the part of the planners of the tournament and the NCAA. The NCAA should be utterly ashamed of themselves. If that tornado had struck the stadium head-on at peak intensity, the casuality count could very well have been massive. It is deprave to allow this type of carelessness to exist. If this is the how severe weather is currently treated by major sporting committees, then it is undoubtedly time for the government to step in and force them to create disaster safety plans for sporting events. This is an outrage to put lives at risk like this. Imagine how bad it would look for our country if thousands of people were killed and injured at the basketball game or any other event in the future.