ATLANTA — Disappointed, frustrated, angry and thankful. The emotions ran the gamut among Southeastern Conference basketball fans who were shut out of the league’s annual basketball tournament because of damage to the Georgia Dome by an F 2 tornado Friday night.

“ It’s really frustrating, ” Razorbacks fan Clay Roberts said while checking out of his Atlanta hotel Saturday morning. “ You buy tickets, take time off from work, travel down to Atlanta and don’t even get to see a game. I’d be angry, but what good would that do ? It’d only make the weekend worse. ”

Like tens of thousands of fans who purchased tickets for the event, Roberts has to follow the rest of the tournament on television because only family members of players, school dignitaries and credentialed workers were allowed to attend the rest of the tournament because of space restriction of Georgia Tech’s Alexander Memorial Gym.

Alexander Memorial Gym seats a cozy 9, 100 compared to the 40, 000 fans the spacious Georgia Dome seats for basketball.

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“ We’re going to head down the road and then stop and watch the Hogs play in a sports bar or a hotel this evening, ” Roberts said. “ This really changed our plans. ”

The SEC’s, too.

After completing the overtime period of the quarterfinal game between victorious Mississippi State and Alabama following an hour-and four-minute delay late Friday night, SEC and Georgia Dome officials deemed the facility unable to continue to host the tournament due to damage to the roof and outside structure.

“ When the first storms came through we had an initial report, a preliminary report, that the dome was safe to play in, ” SEC spokesman Charles Bloom told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “ So we sent the two teams, Alabama and Mississippi State, back on the floor. Further storms were coming in and there was a fear that the storms might aggravate any problems that had occurred during the initial storm. So the feeling was postponing that game was in the best interest of everybody involved. ”

Damage to downtown Atlanta proved so extensive that Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin declared the city in a state of emergency and asked persons to stay away from the downtown area as the city faced further tornado, flash flood and thunderstorm warnings through 7 p. m. Saturday.

When the high winds associated with the tornado hit the Georgia Dome, the game was stopped after the roof shook and debris, including nuts, bolts and washers, rained to the ground from the tarpaulin-covered ceiling.

“ It looked like it was snowing from all the debris, ” said Kevin Trainor, Arkansas associate athletics director for external affairs. “ I was in the media room monitoring our track meet and the baseball game and did not know what had happened until some people began to trickle in. I walked out to take a look and saw the damage. I’ve never experienced anything like it. ”

Roberts was not at the dome when the tornado struck but was watching the game on television in his hotel room after attending Arkansas’ win over Vanderbilt earlier in the day.

“ There was some heavy rain and some warnings on the TV, but who knew it was so bad until you saw thing going nuts on TV, ” he said. “ It’s amazing no one was hurt. That’s the good thing — we could be talking about dead people now. At least there wasn’t a tragedy. ”

According to an Atlanta TV station report, there were three deaths and nine injuries associated with the tornado, but the persons who died were not near the Georgia Dome.

Roberts also wondered if the SEC would refund fans for their unused tickets.

“ We’re working on a refund situation right now, ” Bloom said. “ Hopefully, they’ll realize what happened tonight. We realize the passion is there, and they want to see their teams play. But we had a significant event here. ”

Trainor called the damage to the dome an unpredictable and improbable event.

“ This situation was totally unexpected, but I think the league has acted appropriately and responsibly, ” Trainor said. “ There was no available nearby facility that could host fans like the Georgia Dome. With that being the case, the first thought of the league was for the student-athletes and their families, finding a place for the games to be played and for them to be able to watch.

“ The last thing the league wanted was to send people home, but under the circumstances, the SEC did a great job of getting the games rescheduled. ”

Bloom said there was some talk early Saturday morning of canceling the event out of respect of the damage to downtown Atlanta and the stress the event could put on emergency services.

“ But it was decided let’s try to get the tournament done, ” Bloom said.