Tourney twister?
ATLANTA (AP) — A possible tornado ripped into the Georgia Dome during the Southeastern Conference tournament, sending debris tumbling from the ceiling, prompting fans to flee for the exits and postponing the final game Friday night.
The storm struck while Alabama and Mississippi State were in overtime in their quarterfinal matchup. They were able to finish after a delay of more than an hour — Mississippi State won 69-67 — but the last game between Georgia and Kentucky was called off because of concerns that more strong storm cells were closing in on the city.
"I thought it was a tornado or a terrorist attack," said Mississippi State guard Ben Hansbrough, who was guarding Alabama's Mykal Riley when rumbling began above their heads.
National Weather Service officials called the storm a possible tornado, and winds were clocked at up to 60 mph as the storm moved through the city.
Said one of Hansbrough's teammates, Charles Rhodes, "This has got to be one of the worst environments I've ever been in as a player. To see stuff falling from the roof, it really scared me. I really didn't know what to do."
Because of the damage, SEC moved the rest of its men's basketball tournament to Georgia Tech.
The Georgia-Kentucky quarterfinal game, which was postponed Friday after the storm struck, will be played at noon Saturday. The winner of that game must return in the evening to face Mississippi State in the semifinals.
The other semifinal between No. 4 Tennessee and Arkansas will be played at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Since Alexander Memorial Coliseum is smaller than the Georgia Dome — 9,100 seats as opposed to 26,000 in the dome's basketball configuration — only players' families and those with working credentials will be allowed to attend the remaining games.
While the weather service waffled on whether a tornado struck the 16-year-old dome, everyone sure felt that's what they had been through after a loud rumbling noise swept over the building. The fabric roof rippled like waves in the ocean, while scaffolding, catwalks and a temporary video board swayed dangerously over the crowded stands.
Metal bolts and washers fell from the roof, and two cloth panels above the upper deck tore open. Outside, large chunks of insulation and metal panels — some as long as 25 feet long — were blown off the building.
There were no reports of injuries inside the stadium, SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom said. The crowd was estimated at about 18,000.
"We planned for a lot of things," Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. "We didn't plan for a tornado."
The Alabama-Mississippi State game was stopped with the Bulldogs leading 64-61 and 2:11 left in overtime. Both teams were sent to the locker room and some fans hurried away from their seats. Those who remained looked anxiously at the Teflon-coated Fiberglas fabric roof, which is designed to flex slightly during high winds but was rippling heavily in the storm. Alabama coach Mark Gottfried found his family members in the stands and hustled them to safety.
"I looked up," Gottfried said. "I could see everything swaying. I wanted to get my team out of there."
The building was deemed structurally sound when Alabama and Mississippi State resumed play, though huge chunks or debris were piled up on the sidewalks surrounding the 70,000-seat stadium and a breeze could be felt blowing through the inside. The safety of fans returning to the dome on Saturday was a concern.
Thousands were downtown for two sporting events. An NBA game between the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers was held next door at Philips Arena, which reported no major damage. But numerous windows in CNN Center, headquarters of the cable news network and part of the same complex, were blown out.
Several fans and at least one reporter on press row said metal bolts and washers fell from the ceiling. A pipe ripped a hole in the roof away from the court, which is set up at one end of the dome in a smaller configuration for basketball.
