Tornadoes DO go through downtown Atlanta

This week is a two for one. Last night, Scott, Melissa, Mike, their cousin Justin, and I experienced being in a tornado for the first time of all of our lives. I must say, it was by far the scariest thing I have ever been through. I will set the scene for you. We ate dinner at Ted's Montana Grill on the corner of Luckie and Spring Streets in downtown Atlanta. We were one block from Centennial Olympic Park. The restaurant was part of a Ted Turner building that was about five stories high with the restaurant on the first floor, and was set up in an L shape. While waiting for dinner, I commented about how the weather was so much nicer than it had been earlier in the day....big mistake. They seated at a round table for 5 and we were the 3rd or 4th table back from the front windows that faced Spring Street. We all ate a wonderful dinner and were all enjoying our evening, we kidded about stupid people, airport security, and Geico commercials. Scott made a comment about how he thought we were in a storm because as we all looked outside, we saw rain, trees and debris parallel to the sky. At that moment, the glass windows started bowing out. The super hero that he is, Scott stood up and started moving us to the back of the restaurant where kitchen, restrooms, and emergency exit was. People quickly started to follow, there was probably about 60 or so people in the restaurant at the time, and we all got away from the windows in time. I couldn't see Justin or Melissa and started to panic. I tried so hard to stay calm, but as I was looking for them, the front windows started popping out causing rain, leaves, etc. inside. Melissa and Justin found an alcove to protect themselves and we all moved into the kitchen. I'm not so sure the poor kitchen guys knew what was going on, they had quiet the confused look on their faces. As quick as the tornado came through, it was over. No, it didn't sound like a freight train, and had absolutely NO warning. I did loose it, it was down right scary and all the stupid movies really had me believing that we were gonners once the windows blew out. Our bill was well over $100 and Ted's comped everyone. Scott's brother, Mike parked his new XTerra across the street in a pay lot that was highway robbery at $20, and unfortunatey, had his back and rear passenger glass was blown out. Scott's truck was in a parking deck and has minor scratches down the one side, but nothing compared to some cars. We definitely experienced the brunt of the storm and it's still surreal. Many buildings had glass windows blown out and some hotels had curtains hanging out the windows. It did look somewhat like a movie warzone and I kept thinking this is nothing compared to New York City. Amazingly, there have been no fatalities, and no serious injuries. I don't have any note worthy advice to give other than it's pretty scary, but everyone is ok. I'm sure Nugget had the time of his/her life and has already been through a tornado at 14 1/2 weeks!