City of Atlanta Storm Updates

The City of Atlanta and Mayor Shirley Franklin would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our government and community partners for their assistance during the severe weather conditions over the weekend:

Government Agencies

Atlanta Fulton County Emergency Management Agency.
Atlanta Housing Authority

Georgia Power
Atlanta Gas Light
Georgia State Patrol
MARTA
FEMA
GEMA
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
American Red Cross
Salvation Army
Atlanta Police Department & Sheriff Departments of Fulton and Rockdale Counties
Fire Departments from DeKalb, Cobb, Clayton and Gwinnett Counties
Fulton and Cobb Public Works

DeKalb County K-9 units.

Community Partners

Kroger
Salvation Army
Home Depot
Wal-Mart
Beulah Baptist Church
City of Denver, CO
City of Baltimore, MD
City of Seattle, WA
U.S. Conference of Mayors
Congressman John Lewis
Senator Johnny Isakson

City of Atlanta Storm Updates

Parks and Recreation

- Members of The Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs are still working with other city agencies to get an assessment on the damages caused by Friday’s tornado.

- Starting Friday, members of the department were out clearing trees and cleaning up debris. Early Saturday, they were accessing additional damage and providing emergency services by providing access to recreation centers.

- We worked with the Red Cross to provide a shelter at Central Recreation Center and it will remain open until Tuesday.

- In the initial reports, 78 trees that were down were located in right-of-way areas throughout the city. We are continuing to remove the trees that block paths and throughways. The Office of Parks is still evaluating the amount of park trees that are down.

We can provide only estimates on the possible costs for damage; we are still ascertaining the damage to the following facilities:

Historical Oakland Cemetery $4M

Butler Park $250K

Hurt and Woodruff Parks $500

JFK Natatorium $1M

JFK Park $750K

MLK Natatorium $100K

Old Flat Shoals Maintenance Facility $50K

Parks in Cabbagetown Undetermined - no access

Parks in Vine City Undetermined – no access

Total estimate: $5.6M

The Butler Recreation Center and JFK Natatorium remains closed due to tornado damage.

Hartsfield International Airport

-No external damage to the airport.

-There was some hail and a funnel cloud sighted, but nothing touched down

-Close to 3,000 passengers were inconvenienced Friday night according to Delta (largest carrier). Around half were in hotels, and others stayed in the airport

-Passengers are catching rescheduled flights yesterday and this morning, resulting in security wait times of up to one hour

-Passengers are encouraged to check with their airlines for updated flight information and to also check www.atlanta-airport.com for security wait times

Public Works

-Solid waste efforts concentrated downtown, Vine City, Cabbagetown and Southeast Atlanta

-91 individual signal heads at about 44 different locations were repaired/replaced

- The Department of Public Works is assembling damage assessment teams to complete a comprehensive and thorough condition assessment. Teams are schedule to complete their assessments by Monday evening.

Watershed Overtime Costs

10 dump trucks for 10 hours at $108 p/hr: $10800
8 front end loaders for 10 hours at $135 p/hr: $10800
5 light plants for 10 hours at $3.60 p/hr: $180
22 personnel for 10 hours at $36.50 p/hr: $78.84

Police

-About 30 injuries in total; one firefighter injured

-No less than 20 streets are blocked off in a large area of downtown

-Traffic lights are still inactive at many intersections and are being treated as 4-way stops; downtown expressway ramps will be closed intermittently

-At least a dozen additional buildings have been identified with glass hazards; in addition to the many landmark buildings in the downtown area

-Public Safety moving forward: Stay away from affected area if at all possible; Motorists must be cautious, take extra time, be patient and careful; Pedestrians should wear boots, and watch for falling glass

Fire

-Operations are back to normal

Georgia Power

-Majority of power is restored with the exception of homes that were completely destroyed

Red Cross

3,000 meals served since Friday

1,000 grocery boxes will be distributed today at Beulah Baptist Church, 170 Griffin Street