Storm damages Greenland school roof

A damaged ceiling at Greenland High School’s cafeteria is examined Wednesday by Steve Marshal with The Marshall Group following early morning storms that caused damage to the roof.
A damaged ceiling at Greenland High School’s cafeteria is examined Wednesday by Steve Marshal with The Marshall Group following early morning storms that caused damage to the roof.

Classes at Greenland High School were canceled Wednesday after a storm blew off part of the school cafeteria roof earlier inthe morning.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

A section of damaged roof on Greenland High School’s cafeteria is examined Wednesday following early morning storms that caused damage to the roof and ceiling.

photo

NWA Democrat-Gazette

Daniel Christy (right) and Eric Vinciguerra cut and remove a fallen tree branch Wednesday on the grounds of the Peel Mansion and Heritage Gardens in Bentonville. Storms passed through the region Tuesday night bringing strong wind and heavy rain.

"It was an event, but it could have been a whole lot worse," Mayor Bill Groom said. "The best thing about it is no one was hurt."

Weekend weather

There’s a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms in Northwest Arkansas on Friday, a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms Friday night, a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms Saturday and 40 percent chance Saturday night.

Source: National Weather Service

Wind ripped back about a third of the roof, pulling out pipes, blowing away a skylight and creating several holes leaking rain into the cafeteria and covered 90 percent of the floor, said Superintendent Larry Ben.

The storm struck about 1 a.m., Groom said.

Classes will resume today at the high school, but the cafeteria will be closed. The school kitchen was unaffected and will be used to prepare food for about 270 students. School officials will designate areas where students can eat until the cafeteria is repaired.

An insurance adjuster arrived Wednesday afternoon. "There is going to be major repairs needed for the roof," Ben said.

Various parts of the high school have received roof improvements, but the cafeteria hadn't, Groom said.

"The irony is the school was thinking of repairing that roof anyway," Groom said.

Classes weren't canceled for Greenland middle and elementary school students Wednesday. Some middle school students helped remove fallen limbs and branches in the morning while not taking ACT tests, Ben said.

The storm broke a tree in half and toppled a light pole outside the School District administration building on the campus with the three schools.

The school's electricity was turned off for 30 minutes to an hour to clear roofing material lodged against power lines.

Some debris struck the middle school roof causing a dent, Ben said.

"There were limbs laying on our campus that weren't from our trees," Ben said. "I don't know where they came from."

The storm hit private property in Greenland as well, causing some damage to houses and vehicles. A tree toppled onto the hood of a pickup, Groom said.

About 60 to 70 mph wind blew through the area a little before 1 a.m., said Pete Snyder, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Tulsa, Okla., office.

"Whether it was a tornado or straight-line winds we don't know," Snyder said. "Someone's going to have to go out and survey (the damage)."

The wind was strong enough to prompt a tornado warning issued at 12:41 a.m. for central Washington County. Another tornado warning was issued at 1:12 a.m. for the northeastern part of the county, Snyder said.

Major damage in Washington County didn't seem to extend beyond Greenland High School, said John Luther, director of Washington County Emergency Management.

"But that's not to say there hasn't been any power lines or trees affected," Luther said.

Little damage was reported in Benton County from the storm.

Mike Dixon, emergency management director, said most reports received by the county concerned downed trees and tree limbs and power outages.

"The big thing is there were no injuries. We had a few trees down on houses and about 4,000 homes were without power at one point," Dixon said.

Bill Edwards, mayor of Centerton, said Wednesday morning his city experienced mostly straight-line wind knocking down trees and blew away playground equipment at one city park.

"About three-fourths of our residents were without power at some time during the night," Edwards said.

It is too early to say whether hazardous weather, such as tornadoes or hail, will hit the area this weekend, Snyder said.

"The more severe weather will more likely be south of the Fayetteville area," he said. "Of course, there's a chance it can change. We're fairly confident we'll see showers and thunderstorms, especially Friday night and Saturday."

NW News on 04/28/2016

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