According to InDecatur and a comment by Rachel in a previous post, Decatur hit the tornado siren twice this afternoon as storms descended upon the city.

The wife and I were OTP at the time, so we didn’t hear anything. The dog still isn’t speaking to me.

Isn’t it interesting how when there WAS a tornado last night within a couple miles of town we never got the siren warning? I had no clue about it until 11:15p when my Dad called me from Connecticut. That’s twice that my parents in the Northeast knew about severe weather in Decatur before I did.

I’m not placing blame, it just shows how unpredictable twisters can be. That and how TV, the internet and free long distance has made the world a very small place.

UPDATE: The AJC reports that downtown got an 8 minute warning from the National Weather Service before the tornado hit.  Additionally, the article notes that downtown Atlanta doesn’t even have a tornado siren.  So, Decatur is at least one step ahead of Atlanta in that regard.

The tornado damage is mind-blowing. I can’t imagine how surreal my ride to work will be on Monday morning.

The AJC and CNN have some of the best slideshows of the damage I’ve come across. Also Andisheh at CL was out late last night and has some early photos of the damage on the outskirts of downtown to prove it.

But please don’t drive to into the affected areas.

There are reports of people driving into Cabbagetown from other neighborhoods to check out the damage. And yes the pictures coming out of there are jaw-dropping, but let’s stay out of the way so these people can get as much in order as possible before the next wave of storms come through later today.

Then tomorrow, we can begin to survey the damage, help our neighbors, and begin to clean up and rebuild.

(Photo courtesy of AJC)