Examining the dangers of straight line winds

Last summer, straight line winds caused $1 million worth of damage to two schools in Mid-Missouri.

Last June, the principal of Prairie Home school got a call saying the roof of a portion of the school blew off and into the parking lot.

“I was so surprised when people were sending me texts and pictures on my way to work of what I was going to see when I got there,” said Patrick Tray.

Straight line winds blew the oldest part of the roof off and into the parking lot.

Water filled the hallways and classrooms as the ceiling started caving in from heavy water damage on the roof.

“Almost, I mean exactly a month later then more winds came through and the rest of the roof that didn’t blow off the first time, blew off,” said Tray.

The damage was so severe the second time around, several classes had to be moved to trailers.

It took 4 months to repair all of the damage from two storms and ended up costing a little more than $500,000 to fix.

This happened on July 8, also the same day the second round of storms blew the roof off Prairie Home, the same storm complex damaged Blair Oaks High School in Wardsville.

When the superintendent of Blair Oaks got there, he found the roof of the high school was also blown over in the parking lot.

“I can remember turning the corner into the parking lot and seeing the insulation all over the parking lot, knowing there’s obviously something pretty bad that’s happened here. Walking into the gym and seeing over an inch of water covering 3/4 of the gym floor, and that’s not a good sign either,” said Dr. Jim Jones.

It was about a month after that, school officials decided the hardwood gym floor could not be saved.

They ended up having to rip up the floor and replace everything. The cost of damage at Blair Oaks ended up being right under $500,000.