Midtown Flashback: April 4-5, 2011

On April 4, 2011, a somewhat ordinary spring Monday turned into a violently destructive Monday night and early Tuesday morning as severe storm winds ripped through Midtown, toppling trees that resulted in property damage and extended power outages.

One tree crushed two cars on 8th Street. Another fell on a house on Myrtle Street, while others were down around Ansley Park on South Prado and Beverly Road.

Where were you last year when one of the most powerful storms to hit ever hit Midtown blew through?

The storm knocked down trees and power lines leaving a trail of destruction behind. In metro Atlanta, there were at least 70 broken power line poles and 117 spans of wire down. Fortunately there were no serious injuries in Midtown, but the early April storm was part of a precursor to what would become one of the deadliest months in U.S. history due to tornadoes and storms.

Electrifying photographs by Robert Wojciechowski from the 34th floor of his Midtown condo were featured on Midtown Patch hours after the storm had passed. By keeping the camera shutter open for a short period, he was able to capture lightning strikes, including a pair of direct hits to the lightning rod atop the Bank of America building.

Wojciechowski writes on this site where more pictures from that night can be viewed, “This was one of two hits that hit the BoA tower and showered sparks and burning metal for a good 15s or so down to the ground. I didn't even try to get a picture of lightning, just a quick shot of the whiteness of the cloud-to-cloud hits that just brighten up the sky at this point.”

There’s a 70 percent chance of rain and possible thunderstorms locally on Thursday. But following on a very mild winter, the Georgia spring storm season has been quiet for about five weeks. That was when a series of deadly tornadoes ripped across the Southeast that resulted in 41 deaths, mostly in Kentucky.

Turn back a year and April 2011 ranked as the most active tornado month on U.S. record with 758 tornadoes that resulted in an estimated 364 fatalities. The previous record number of tornadoes during any month was set in May 2004 with 542, and the 200 tornado outbreak on April 27, 2011 also set a U.S. record.

It’s only been slightly more then four years since a tornado blew through downtown and east city neighborhoods, and just this week, tornadoes hit Dallas and the highly populated area of Fort Worth, Texas at the same time.

But simply, since cities cover such small areas of the country, tornadoes don’t often hit cities.

But storms do and in recent years in Atlanta they’ve been both deadly and destructive. So, let’s bring on an appropriate amount of nurturing rain, but continue to stay clear of the powerful spring storms the likes we saw last year at this time.