USA: Tornado trashes Atlanta

March 15, 2008

Dear friends,

The aspect of transit Jupiter to natal Venus in the SAMVA USA chart

is still very close. Transit Venus is also in 6th house.

Best wishes,

Thor

updated 53 minutes ago

Tornado trashes Atlanta

Story Highlights

Fatality reported in new storm in northern Georgia

Tornado rips path 6 miles long, 200 yards wide in Atlanta

Storm sends trees into rows of houses in historic neighborhood

Twister strikes arena filled with basketball fans; CNN Center damaged

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A trail of uprooted and broken trees,

downed utility lines, peeled-off roofs and collapsed brick walls

marked the path of a tornado that tore through downtown Atlanta.

An Atlanta sidewalk is heaved up by an oak tree toppled in the sudden

storm.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Saturday morning that an

EF-2 tornado with winds up to 130 mph struck the city Friday night.

" This was clearly a tornado, " Lans Rothfusz of the weather service's

Peachtree City, Georgia, office said.

Utility and cleanup crews on Saturday worked to restore traffic

lights, clear streets and remove tons of debris in the city's

business district after Friday night's unusual urban storm.

At least one person was killed Saturday as a dangerous line of

thunderstorms continued to prompt watches and warnings across

northern Georgia north of Atlanta, officials said.

The fatality occurred near Aragon, Georgia, said Polk County

dispatcher Thomas Wilson. There are also unconfirmed reports of other

fatalities and of homes destroyed, he said.

Police in Atlanta were urging people to stay away from downtown.

Shattered windows and hanging metal could increase the risk of flying

debris if storms packing heavy winds move in, authorities said.

Trees blown down in Friday night's storm crushed a row of houses in

the city's historic Cabbagetown district just east of downtown.

Initial estimates from the mayor's office said at least 20 of the

historic homes were damaged or destroyed by the tornado.

Atlanta police Maj. Renee Propes urged people to stay away from

Cabbagetown.

" We appreciate the fact that people may want to help, " Propes

said. " But, in most instances, they are hindering our efforts and

possibly putting people and property at risk. "

The top floor collapsed at one building in the Fulton Cotton Mill

Lofts, a 104-year-old industrial complex redeveloped into residences.

Police officials said everyone was out of the structure and

surrounding buildings and all residents in the lofts had been

accounted for.

As of 11 a.m. Saturday, about 10,000 customers were without power,

but restoring it in some areas will be " very slow going, " said

Georgia Power spokesman John Sell.

More than 40 poles were broken, some in highly congested areas, he

said.

Houses smashed in artists' enclave

Part of Atlanta's MARTA mass-transit rail system was shut down

because of damage east of downtown.

The twister is the first to strike downtown Atlanta since record-

keeping began in the late 1800s, said Laura Griffith, a National

Weather Service forecaster.

On March 24, 1975, a tornado hit the city's Buckhead area, including

the governor's mansion, she said. Three people died and more than 150

were injured.

The weather service said Friday's tornado plowed a path about 6 miles

long and 200 yards wide.

The twister appears to have first struck several houses and churches

west of the business district, then moved on to the Georgia Dome, CNN

Center, Centennial Olympic Park and Cabbagetown.

A brick apartment building west of the Dome was entirely roofless

Saturday morning.

Curtains waved through broken windows high up the cylindrical 73-

story Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel. Gaping holes were torn in the

roof of the Georgia World Congress Center, and an auto parts

warehouse just east of downtown partially collapsed. Watch a

stairway become a waterfall »

Although tens of thousands of people were in the path of the storm --

many in town for a major college basketball tournament -- there were

no known deaths and just one life-threatening injury, police said.

About 30 people -- one of them a firefighter -- were treated at

hospitals, mostly for minor cuts, scrapes and bruises, police said.

The American Red Cross reported about 70 people were using one

shelter it established, and a second was added later in the morning.

The storm struck the 71,000-seat Georgia Dome at 9:45 p.m. during a

Southeastern Conference tournament basketball game. It shattered

windows and tore roofs from buildings -- including CNN Center --

before continuing into several residential neighborhoods.

Mahsud Olufani, an Atlanta painter and sculptor with a studio in

Cabbagetown, said, " It looks like a bomb went off, it looks like

World War III. "

A large hole could be seen in the 14th floor of a high-rise dorm at

Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta. Students were evacuated

from the area on buses. See photos of the destruction »

The storm interrupted a Southeastern Conference game between Alabama

and Mississippi State.

" It was actually in overtime, and the game was getting exciting, and

I thought people from the Alabama side were hitting the bleachers

trying to get some noise going, " said basketball fan Lucas

Shields. " All of a sudden the TV went out, the overhead clock stopped

working, and you hear that distinctive noise of a train. "

Amanda Reimann, an iReporter and University of Georgia cheerleader,

said she and her teammates heard a loud noise.

" It sounded like the fans were banging on the seats or stomping their

feet, but it kept up and got a lot louder, " she said. " Then the

ceiling of the Dome started waving, the giant TV screens were waving,

and light fixures and dust started falling.

" My teammates and I thought it was a bomb but our coach came running

for us and a security guy and said it was a tornado. We all ran for

the locker room. "

The game resumed about an hour later, but a later game between

Kentucky and Georgia was postponed.

A professional basketball game at Philips Arena next door was not

disrupted, but the thousands attending that game also had to make

their way home through the storm debris.

Police closed several streets in the vicinity of CNN Center because

of glass and other debris. Two of Centennial Olympic Park's towering

Olympic torches were toppled and a performance pavilion was destroyed.

Inside CNN Center, water poured through the damaged roof into the

building's atrium. Glass shattered, and parts of the building filled

with dust.

Virtually all of the windows facing Centennial Olympic Park on the

Omni Hotel, which is adjacent to CNN Center, were shattered. Visitors

to the hotel were moved to the facility's exhibition hall at street

level.

CNN moved its national desk operation to another location Saturday

after parts of the ceiling fell in, and CNN International aired

domestic programming. Windows also shattered in the CNN.com newsroom,

and CNN's library was damaged.

Slabs of metal and insulation material were strewn on the streets

outside. Heaps of bricks and drywall were pushed up against cars.

Street signs were bent in half.

The city's St. Patrick's Day celebration and the SEC parade set for

Saturday morning were canceled. SEC tournament games were to be moved

to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech in Atlanta's

undamaged Midtown area.

March 15, 2008

Dear friends,

A list member sent me the following charts for Georgia off-list. He was in the midst of the Tornados. I hope he passes through the storm safely. The question was which chart might give a better explanation for the weather down there. Here is my quick reply.

Both charts seem to have merit, but they would have to be studied from historical validity and natal potential. Georgia impresses me as a pretty good state and the Jupiter-Venus combination in the 9th house of the Virgo rising chart would be awful nice to have. Wealth and status joined with fixed assets and communal harmony in the house of luck. The fairly strong 1st lord Mercury in the 10th house is not bad either. That said, the 6th lord Saturn in the 4th house in opposition to 8th lord Mars in the 10th house would give recurring serious problems - such as the nodes are now afflicting.

The Pisces rising chart for 1788 (did Georgia exist that early) has less of a potential, although the Jupiter-Mercury opposition in the 3rd and 9th house is good, but it has one major problem: the aspect of Ketu in the 4th house to Saturn as 12th lord in the 12th house, which could also give sudden problems - and this combination is also being triggered by the stationary nodes.

Tough choice - no quick answer, I'm afraid.

If any one has a view on this issue, histrorical or astrological, feel free to share it.

Best wishes,

Thor

cosmologer <cosmologerSAMVA Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2008 8:33:56 PM USA: Tornado trashes AtlantaDear friends,The aspect of transit Jupiter to natal Venus in the SAMVA USA chart is still very close. Transit Venus is also in 6th house.Best wishes,Thorupdated 53 minutes ago Tornado trashes AtlantaStory HighlightsFatality reported in new storm in northern GeorgiaTornado rips path 6 miles long, 200 yards wide in AtlantaStorm sends trees into rows of houses in historic neighborhoodTwister strikes arena filled with basketball fans; CNN Center damaged ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A trail of uprooted and broken trees, downed utility lines, peeled-off roofs and collapsed brick walls

marked the path of a tornado that tore through downtown Atlanta.An Atlanta sidewalk is heaved up by an oak tree toppled in the sudden storm.The National Weather Service confirmed late Saturday morning that an EF-2 tornado with winds up to 130 mph struck the city Friday night."This was clearly a tornado," Lans Rothfusz of the weather service's Peachtree City, Georgia, office said.Utility and cleanup crews on Saturday worked to restore traffic lights, clear streets and remove tons of debris in the city's business district after Friday night's unusual urban storm. At least one person was killed Saturday as a dangerous line of thunderstorms continued to prompt watches and warnings across northern Georgia north of Atlanta, officials said.The fatality occurred near Aragon, Georgia, said Polk County dispatcher Thomas Wilson. There are also unconfirmed reports of other

fatalities and of homes destroyed, he said.Police in Atlanta were urging people to stay away from downtown. Shattered windows and hanging metal could increase the risk of flying debris if storms packing heavy winds move in, authorities said.Trees blown down in Friday night's storm crushed a row of houses in the city's historic Cabbagetown district just east of downtown.Initial estimates from the mayor's office said at least 20 of the historic homes were damaged or destroyed by the tornado.Atlanta police Maj. Renee Propes urged people to stay away from Cabbagetown."We appreciate the fact that people may want to help," Propes said. "But, in most instances, they are hindering our efforts and possibly putting people and property at risk."The top floor collapsed at one building in the Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts, a 104-year-old industrial complex redeveloped into residences.

Police officials said everyone was out of the structure and surrounding buildings and all residents in the lofts had been accounted for. As of 11 a.m. Saturday, about 10,000 customers were without power, but restoring it in some areas will be "very slow going," said Georgia Power spokesman John Sell. More than 40 poles were broken, some in highly congested areas, he said. Houses smashed in artists' enclave Part of Atlanta's MARTA mass-transit rail system was shut down because of damage east of downtown.The twister is the first to strike downtown Atlanta since record-keeping began in the late 1800s, said Laura Griffith, a National Weather Service forecaster. On March 24, 1975, a tornado hit the city's Buckhead area, including the governor's mansion, she said. Three people died and more than 150 were injured.The weather service said Friday's tornado plowed a

path about 6 miles long and 200 yards wide. The twister appears to have first struck several houses and churches west of the business district, then moved on to the Georgia Dome, CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park and Cabbagetown.A brick apartment building west of the Dome was entirely roofless Saturday morning.Curtains waved through broken windows high up the cylindrical 73-story Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel. Gaping holes were torn in the roof of the Georgia World Congress Center, and an auto parts warehouse just east of downtown partially collapsed. Watch a stairway become a waterfall »Although tens of thousands of people were in the path of the storm -- many in town for a major college basketball tournament -- there were no known deaths and just one life-threatening injury, police said. About 30 people -- one of them a firefighter -- were treated at hospitals,

mostly for minor cuts, scrapes and bruises, police said.The American Red Cross reported about 70 people were using one shelter it established, and a second was added later in the morning.The storm struck the 71,000-seat Georgia Dome at 9:45 p.m. during a Southeastern Conference tournament basketball game. It shattered windows and tore roofs from buildings -- including CNN Center -- before continuing into several residential neighborhoods.Mahsud Olufani, an Atlanta painter and sculptor with a studio in Cabbagetown, said, "It looks like a bomb went off, it looks like World War III."A large hole could be seen in the 14th floor of a high-rise dorm at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta. Students were evacuated from the area on buses. See photos of the destruction »The storm interrupted a Southeastern Conference game between Alabama and Mississippi State."It

was actually in overtime, and the game was getting exciting, and I thought people from the Alabama side were hitting the bleachers trying to get some noise going," said basketball fan Lucas Shields. "All of a sudden the TV went out, the overhead clock stopped working, and you hear that distinctive noise of a train."Amanda Reimann, an iReporter and University of Georgia cheerleader, said she and her teammates heard a loud noise."It sounded like the fans were banging on the seats or stomping their feet, but it kept up and got a lot louder," she said. "Then the ceiling of the Dome started waving, the giant TV screens were waving, and light fixures and dust started falling. "My teammates and I thought it was a bomb but our coach came running for us and a security guy and said it was a tornado. We all ran for the locker room." The game resumed about an hour later, but a later game

between Kentucky and Georgia was postponed.A professional basketball game at Philips Arena next door was not disrupted, but the thousands attending that game also had to make their way home through the storm debris.Police closed several streets in the vicinity of CNN Center because of glass and other debris. Two of Centennial Olympic Park's towering Olympic torches were toppled and a performance pavilion was destroyed.Inside CNN Center, water poured through the damaged roof into the building's atrium. Glass shattered, and parts of the building filled with dust.Virtually all of the windows facing Centennial Olympic Park on the Omni Hotel, which is adjacent to CNN Center, were shattered. Visitors to the hotel were moved to the facility's exhibition hall at street level. CNN moved its national desk operation to another location Saturday after parts of the ceiling fell

in, and CNN International aired domestic programming. Windows also shattered in the CNN.com newsroom, and CNN's library was damaged.Slabs of metal and insulation material were strewn on the streets outside. Heaps of bricks and drywall were pushed up against cars. Street signs were bent in half.The city's St. Patrick's Day celebration and the SEC parade set for Saturday morning were canceled. SEC tournament games were to be moved to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech in Atlanta's undamaged Midtown area. ---