PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Take a look inside All Children’s Academy preschool and you will see wires hanging, ceiling tile on the ground, water damage and tree branches poking through the roof. That’s the damage left behind from Thursday’s EF-1 Tornado.
“You could feel it in the building,” said the school Director, Susan Sanders.
Sanders was with a student at the time of the storm. She recalls what it was like and how fast it came through.
“It was like a very large thump, a loud noise,” she said, looking back at the tree lying on the building.
According to Sanders, the storm only lasted about 30 to 45 seconds. Nearly 40 students and about seven staff members were in the school at the time. Thankfully the students weren’t in the room when the tree fell. Sanders and the children's parents credit the quick action of the teaching staff.
“No child was hurt, and no staff member got hurt,” she said. “They did a phenomenal job.”
The rain from the storm damaged just about everything in the building. St. Vincents Episcopal Church owns the building. The church’s insurance will pay for the repairs of the building, but everything inside is on the school.
Father Alex Adujar explains that the top priority right now is getting the tree off the roof, then they will start to inspect the building to make sure it’s structurally sound.
“Once that’s ok, we can go back to being in the building,” he said.
The good news for the school, they have a second location. That’s where some of the children will go until the building is repaired.
School officials are still doing inventory to determine exactly what was lost and the extent of the damage. If you would like to help the school in any way, you can email All Children’s Academy at allchildrensacademy@gmail.com or call 630-631-7783.
