In some ways, the Georgia Dome was a safe and even lucky haven Friday night.

Just imagine if Alabama's Mykal Riley hadn't hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer to tie the score and send the SEC tournament game against Mississippi State into overtime. Fans would have spilled into the streets, and into the tornado's wrath — shattering glass, flying debris and whipping wind.

Still, all was not cozy — or dry — inside the domed building.

When it hit with the roar of a train at 9:40 p.m., the twister rattled and tore through the cable-supported fabric roof, ripping up sections of the arena, causing monitors and scaffolding to sway and spooking fans. The damage raises safety questions about whether the Dome scored a win or a loss Friday evening when up against the city's first-ever downtown tornado.

Officials acknowledged the roof was damaged Friday, but the full extent is still being assessed by a team of structural engineers, said Katy Pando, spokeswoman for the Georgia Dome and World Congress Center.

George Taft, an architect with Heery International Inc., designer of the Dome, said he would meet today with structural engineers, the roof's fabricator and management to assess the damage and plan repairs.

Most of the damage occurred on the side of the facility curtained off from the basketball tournament seats — a lucky break, Taft said.

Dome officials seemed upbeat, stressing that there were no serious injuries at the Dome or World Congress Center, just "bumps and bruises." Khalil Johnson, chief operating officer of the Georgia Dome and the Congress Center, actually was smiling Saturday morning.

"We are very lucky this morning," Johnson said. "Think about this: What if that kid from Alabama doesn't hit that 3-point shot? ... It could have been a disaster."

Dan Graveline, executive director of the Congress Center, said given the intensity of the storm, he also felt fortunate. "For the most part all we're talking about this morning are bricks and mortar," said Graveline. "We can repair that."

Johnson said Saturday that the damage to the Georgia Dome was not nearly as significant as that to the Congress Center.

"This is basically our offseason for the Dome, so the sense of urgency is not as great," Johnson said. "But we've got a lot to do at the World Congress Center."

State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine said Saturday that "there is not a building that is safe" at the Congress Center.

Pando said the Dome would be closed today, but no decision had been made about the upcoming week. Pando said it appears the Congress Center got a bigger hit, with damage to its roof and walls.

"Safety and security is our top priority," she said.

Following a football game in 1995, four panels in the roof collapsed after heavy rain, wiping out 500 seats and concrete supports, but no one was injured.

On Saturday, people marveled at how well the Dome had fared.

"When you consider you have this very rare occurrence of a tornado in high velocity hit downtown, and all the damage we are talking about is a punctured roof. I'd say we did just fine," said Thomas Leslie of the Georgia Engineering Alliance. "I'd even say it was a great success."

— Staff writers Tony Barnhart,

Nisa Asokan contributed to this article.