The Tornado in Cabbagetown #2

Thank you so much to all of you, my darling friends and family who have called and emailed to check on me and my Atlanta friends after last night's tornado. I deeply appreciate your concern and loving words. I'm grateful to say that I am fine, my house is fine, and (clearly since I am blogging) my neighborhood even has power.

It's not as good in other areas very close to me though. I can't even imagine what Katrina must have been like. What happened in Atlanta last night is a teeny-tiny fraction of what NOLA dealt with, is still dealing with. Yet the damage here blows my mind.

My wonderful friend and co-worker Charlotta wrote of her experience being downtown last night when the tornado hit:

We were at a play at Theatrical Outfit - right around the corner from the office on Luckie Street. We left the play a few seconds before the storm hit, having just taken a few steps down the street. We had an extremely difficult and dangerous time getting around the corners to our office. As we were trying to unlock the door, tables and chairs from Slice were tumbling down the street. The awning from the Mark, flew off and landed across the street in the "moat" which is around the 11th Circus. [11th Circuit Court of Appeals]

Precious Mica's roof blew off; she is okay, thank goodness. The top floor of the Fulton Cotton Mill lofts is demolished. Everywhere you look in Cabbagetown roofs are missing in in some of their places are tarps. Trees block streets every which way.

I've had a migraine since yesterday morning. Despite the handfuls of ibuprofen I've taken, I can't seem to shake it. There is this strange strange energy in the air and I just can't shake this nervous feeling. My body is so tense.

When it has been sunny today the sunlight has been crazy through the storm clouds. Like in these pictures taken in Grant Park early this afternoon:

And then the strange dark sun would disappear and it would rain again. The the sun would emerge but the next thing we knew there was hail. It's a strange day in Atlanta.

Some lyrics are rollin in my head: "what if all tomorrow brings is ashes and glass..."