SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some players from the South Charleston High School football team are helping their communities remove broken tree limbs and other debris from Tuesday’s high windstorm.
Head Coach Dustin Resler, his coaching staff and about a dozen students were in South Charleston and Dunbar Thursday to help with the cleanup effort.
“Our community has always been there for us. They show up on Friday nights for us. They’re here for us whenever we need help and so I feel like it’s important to make sure that you’re giving back to your community,” he said.
Schools were closed in Kanawha County for a second day due to a loss of power from the storm. Resler said it was a perfect opportunity to help out especially after seeing some of the damage right a after the storm hit.
“We’ve seen some of the trees and stuff stuck on people’s fences. That’s w
hat made us think about hey, here’s a chance for us to try and help those who may not be able to help themselves right now,” he said. “Our goal is to leave it better than how we found it.”
The 90 mile per hour winds knocked over power lines, uprooted trees and ripped up some roofs. Kanawha County Schools Facilities Executive Director Andrew Crawford said there was some roof damage to Weberwood Elementary School and Sissonville High School.
“We had a tree fall on the roof. It punctured about 60 holes here. So far, we’ve patched about 45 and hope to have the remaining 15 by the end of the day,” Crawford told MetroNews at Weberwood Thursday morning.
About one-third of the county’s 66 school facilities were without power as of Wednesday evening. Crews were busy Thursday cleaning out walking coolers and freezers to make sure food didn’t go bad as a result of the power outages.
Crawford said the goal is to get the lights back on as they work to remove tree limbs.
“I think at this point getting the power back on to the buildings and getting the walk-in coolers and freezers restocked so we can supply breakfast and lunch to the kids,” he said. “After that, we plan to turn out focus to the playing fields and things that wouldn’t effect having school.”
The falling tree at Weberwood didn’t cause any structural damage or any injuries. Students were sheltering in place at the school during the storm.