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Photos: Hurricane Irma lashes Atlanta

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The first tropical storm warning in City of Atlanta history portended one doozy of a tempest

A toppled tree on Clifton Road in Candler Park had barely missed this van early Monday.
A toppled tree on Clifton Road in Candler Park had barely missed this van early Monday.
Photos: Josh Green, Curbed Atlanta

The brutal, leftover forces of Hurricane Irma were proving to Atlantans on Monday that being the City In A Forest can have its drawbacks.

Schools and government offices were closed, all MARTA public transit was cancelled, hundreds of flights at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport were grounded, entire neighborhoods were losing power, and city streets were covered in fallen pieces of trees even before Irma’s worst winds arrived.

Atlanta basically shut down.

By the look of many roadways, however, Atlantans were heeding advisories to stay home. Atlanta police vehicles were seen posted up in neighborhoods throughout the city.

But still, in places, the scene was turning rather chaotic.

By 2 p.m. Monday in Midtown, steady winds and gusts had picked up, with more than a dozen traffic lights out across the heart of the neighborhood.

Many lights still working had been twisted on their poles, and weren't easily visible. Drivers weren’t treating intersections as four-way stops, and quite a few near-misses were observed.

Other developments:

  • Across Georgia, an estimated 840,000 people and counting are without power, per the AJC.
  • Atlanta Public Schools will also be closed Tuesday.
  • Trash service throughout Atlanta has been delayed by two days.
  • Roads around Five Points and Woodruff Park downtown were closed after windblown debris rained off a high-rise into the streets.
  • The most extreme winds from now-Tropical Storm Irma will reportedly subside around 8 or 9 p.m., with winds and rain tapering off Tuesday morning, according to WSB-TV.

Here’s a look around Atlanta as dramatic winds began to sweep through, raining branches and entire trees across the region.

A limb plummeted early Monday atop the entrance to Paradiso townhomes in Druid Hills.
Josh Green, Curbed Atlanta
Stoplights dance in the wind where North Highland Avenue meets Ponce.
By 2 p.m. Monday, not a soul was braving the Beltline’s Eastside Trail.
Candler Park’s commercial village, largely abandoned.
A fallen limb blocks a lane of McLendon Avenue in Candler Park about 1:30 p.m. Monday.
Like many of Atlanta’s streets, this one in Inman Park was covered in branches and other detritus even before Monday’s strongest winds swept through.
Preparations for Music Midtown in Piedmont Park were brought by Irma to a standstill Monday. Bruno Mars is scheduled to take this half-built stage Saturday night.
Midtown in the distance, as the frontline leftovers of Hurricane Irma began sweeping Atlanta.
Little Five Points, deserted.
In the 1 o’clock hour Monday, Peachtree Street through Midtown was a soggy ghost town.
Remaining photos: Micheal Kahn, Curbed Atlanta
As seen from Midtown, Irma’s rains shroud Buckhead.
By about 3 p.m., downtown Atlanta looked evacuated.
Few travelers were braving the downtown Connector as the brunt of Irma’s remaining force began arriving in Atlanta.