ANNAPOLIS, Mo. — Glass shattered on desks, shelves thrown through walls and holes bursting from ceilings.
What was supposed to be the celebratory day before summer vacation at South Iron School in Annapolis on Thursday is instead being spent picking up the pieces from Wednesday's storms.
The school houses students from kindergarten through 12th grade, all of whom had to hunker down at home when waves of severe storms hit their city Wednesday night. A tornado with gusts up to 110 mph touched down right by the school, according to the National Weather Service.
Instead of smiles and summer dreams, the students are recovering from the trauma. The damage is difficult for Christie Ayers, superintendent of South Iron R-I School District, to wrap her head around, especially since Thursday was also going to be a celebration for her.
"I will be retiring at the end of June, but this was going to be my last official day at school with students and staff," Ayers said. "Students were going to celebrate today, have awards and all that. Now, they aren't able to get those awards, certificates and end-of-the-year achievements. It's devastating."
5 On Your Side was the only news station covering Annapolis' recovery Thursday morning. The city's mayor and emergency management director, Scott Oatman, said the destruction throughout the community was widespread, including:
- Hundreds without power
- Six miles worth of damage, including 10 homes and three cars
- Highway 49, the city's main road which locals call "Allen Street," is shut down due to numerous power lines being on the road
"The main thing is that no one got hurt ... It could have been worse," Oatman said. "We've got homes with no roof on them, cars with trees on them and telephone poles down all over the place. Somebody could have been hurt and nobody was hurt."
Two custodians were inside the school while the storm ripped parts of the roof off. One of the custodians, Kenny Berkbuegler, ran for his life after hearing what he says were roaring noises.
"We had seconds to react ... All I could do was run," Berkbuegler said. "I was running through the hallway, yelling at the other custodian on the other side to take cover.... I hit in the bathroom you could just hear stuff flying all over the place...it was pretty bad."
He felt like time froze as the storm left its mark on the school. In the moments after, he was able to safety locate his colleague, both of which were not injured. The next thing he did was call Ayers and let her know.
Along with the lack of injuries, Ayers has already been overwhelmed by the amount of support the district has received from both community members and surrounding school districts. She hopes the support will help the school get back on its feet by the start of next school year.
"This is our first year of dealing with something like this," Ayers said. "We've had all kinds of great school districts around our area that have reached out in support and are willing to help out ... We're making sure that everything is going to be cleaned up, put back together the best that we can, and have top-notch school students come back to in the fall."
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