DeKalb is under a tornado warning until 6:30p, therefore I came home to the sightly eerie – but certainly appreciated – Agnes Scott tornado siren again.

As we’ve noted in the past, Agnes Scott and Emory have the only tornado sirens in whole flippin’ county.

Stay safe all!  These tornado warnings are getting way too frequent.

It took me about 5 extra minutes to get downtown this morning even though I took Ponce/North Ave. into the city instead of DeKalb Ave (due to Marietta St. closures).  Others that took DeKalb or Memorial weren’t so lucky.

Much of the damage we saw over the weekend from local media has already been dealt with.  Many of the GWCC and CNN Center/Omni Hotel windows are already boarded up.   Also, there’s a huge line of dumpsters in front of GWCC to deal with that mess.

I’m not sure if the city will update this list in time for rush hour traffic tomorrow morning, but here’s today’s listing of streets that are still closed due to tornado damage and part of a note from the city.

Atlanta Police are urging motorists to use extreme caution when returning to work Monday morning as numerous traffic lights remain out of order, and city crews continue to clear debris from the areas affected by the severe weather on Friday and Saturday.
The following streets remain closed to traffic as of noon today:

Jesse Hill Boulevard from Coca Cola to Armstrong (wires down on Jesse Hill)
Auburn Avenue from Fort Street to Jesse Hill
Coca Cola Pl. from Jesse Hill to Pratt Street
Boulevard from Gartrell to Memorial Drive (north and south)
The area between Gartrell, Jackson, Todd and William Holmes Borders Sr. streets
Park Place from Edgewood to Auburn streets
Marietta Street from Peachtree to Fairlie (westbound only)
Marietta Street – Park to Centennial Olympic Parkway
Luckie Street from Spring Street to Centennial Olympic Parkway
Peachtree Street from Marietta to Harris streets
Andrew Young International Boulevard from Courtland to Spring streets
Harris Street from Spring to Peachtree streets
Spring Street from Marietta to Harris streets
Nassau Street from Spring Street to Centennial Olympic Parkway
Forsyth Street from Marietta to Walton streets

There are still approximately 159 signal lights needing repairs. Drivers should treat these intersections as 4-way stops. Stop at the corner, and proceed one by one, giving the right-of-way to the driver on the right.

I’m guessing that the city of Atlanta’s website will be the best source tomorrow morning if you’re checking to see if you need to alter your commute.  Might not be a bad idea just to take MARTA.

Right now it looks like Marietta is still closed between Peachtree and Fairlie, which means I’ll have to figure something else out to get down into the heart of the wreckage.

Should be interesting.  I’ll bring a camera.

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)