EVAKUASHUN: U R DOING IT RONG!
I spent Saturday at Momocon, a free anime convention on the Georgia Tech campus. I had a great time, but their response to the weather left much to be desired. You'd expect a college campus to have better plans in place for events like this.
I feel I should state beforehand that the tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta was the night before last, and no one I know was injured. Also, I'm home safe, and as far as I know the only person who had any injuries at the convention was for reasons unrelated to the tornado, and I saw them picked up by an ambulance. I kept myself safe through the warning and barely even got rained on the whole day.
There was a tornado warning during the convention. It lasted for only 17 minutes. The way things were set up encouraged most people to stay inside, which gave us a little safety net.
A few minutes before the tornado warning was scheduled to end, the staff passed along messages, instructing people to move to another building for shelter, but without good directions or leadership. By this time there was heavy rain and hail, not a good thing to be moving around in during a tornado warning unless there's a good reason. Several people, myself included, ended up huddled in a recessed locker area with walls on three sides, two floors above, and some distance between us and the windows to wait it out. inuyasha_boy, who was on staff, got very wet while moving people, but he's otherwise fine.
After the warning ended, the staff herded us along to a new shelter area. This was near the big circular stage area downstairs that was used for karaoke. Right above said stage is a skylight. The doors to the outside are glass. I kept away from the doors and windows, though not everyone was that smart. I later asked the question "could you think of a dumber place to shelter during a tornado than under a skylight?" Of course, by that time, the warning had officially expired, even if they hadn't announced it.
A little after the skylight incident, a message was passed along, and a friend of mine was deputized to sound the all-clear. Most of us took a look around outside, to see no sign of tornadoes, even the rain had cleared up, and the clouds didn't look threatening. A few people went down to the fountain to play. Walking in an inch or so of water, next to a huge metal tower, just after a storm passed. I kept some distance from this stupidity, pointing out to friends what a bad idea this was, and getting some laughs. The staff had the same idea, ordering everyone out of the water.
Everything started back up, delayed a bit by the weather, but with no injuries from it as far as I know. Just a source of some odd anecdotes and annoyances.
I feel I should state beforehand that the tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta was the night before last, and no one I know was injured. Also, I'm home safe, and as far as I know the only person who had any injuries at the convention was for reasons unrelated to the tornado, and I saw them picked up by an ambulance. I kept myself safe through the warning and barely even got rained on the whole day.
There was a tornado warning during the convention. It lasted for only 17 minutes. The way things were set up encouraged most people to stay inside, which gave us a little safety net.
A few minutes before the tornado warning was scheduled to end, the staff passed along messages, instructing people to move to another building for shelter, but without good directions or leadership. By this time there was heavy rain and hail, not a good thing to be moving around in during a tornado warning unless there's a good reason. Several people, myself included, ended up huddled in a recessed locker area with walls on three sides, two floors above, and some distance between us and the windows to wait it out. inuyasha_boy, who was on staff, got very wet while moving people, but he's otherwise fine.
After the warning ended, the staff herded us along to a new shelter area. This was near the big circular stage area downstairs that was used for karaoke. Right above said stage is a skylight. The doors to the outside are glass. I kept away from the doors and windows, though not everyone was that smart. I later asked the question "could you think of a dumber place to shelter during a tornado than under a skylight?" Of course, by that time, the warning had officially expired, even if they hadn't announced it.
A little after the skylight incident, a message was passed along, and a friend of mine was deputized to sound the all-clear. Most of us took a look around outside, to see no sign of tornadoes, even the rain had cleared up, and the clouds didn't look threatening. A few people went down to the fountain to play. Walking in an inch or so of water, next to a huge metal tower, just after a storm passed. I kept some distance from this stupidity, pointing out to friends what a bad idea this was, and getting some laughs. The staff had the same idea, ordering everyone out of the water.
Everything started back up, delayed a bit by the weather, but with no injuries from it as far as I know. Just a source of some odd anecdotes and annoyances.