CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There will be no school in Kanawha and Fayette counties Wednesday after the storm that moved through Tuesday left behind significant damage.
More than 30 school buildings in Kanawha County were without power Tuesday evening and a handful of others only had partial electrical service.
Kanawha County School Superintendent Tom Williams said teachers, staff and students did what they were supposed to do when the storm moved through at just before 11 a.m. Tuesday.
“We had everyone at all of our sites, not just at our schools, but at all of our sites shelter-in-place. There were no injuries,” Williams said.
There was some damage around various schools with trees down and playground equipment damaged. Williams said county offices at the former Roxalana School near Dunbar sustained some damage. He said the roof was blown off at the Pratt Elementary School gym, a building constructed in 1935.
It was scary for a few minutes with winds clocked in the 80 to 90 mph range.
“I think for the little ones it probably was and maybe some of the older ones,” Williams said. “We practice this. We have drills five or six times a year on shelter-in-place on what to do and how to do it and we have different scenarios and a tornado is one of the scenarios.”
Kanawha County elementary schools were dismissed about an hour early Tuesday but buses encountered several roads blocked by trees and some students had to returned to their schools. There were also a few dozen middle school children that had to stay in the buildings for longer than normal because of roads being block. All students were able to get home by Tuesday evening.