ALAMO, Tenn. — An EF-1 tornado damaged a Crockett County High School building so badly that it, along with every other school in Crockett County, was shut down Wednesday.
If you are wondering why all schools were closed, even though only one school was damaged, officials said they had no idea what to expect when daylight came.
“We felt like it would be best and safest for everybody that we shut everything down today to give everybody a chance to evaluate their own building,” Bobby Mullins, the director of schools, said.
But the tornado’s impact on the high school was severe enough to close it until at least Monday.
The roof was ripped off a vocational building.
“There are eight classrooms and four shop areas that are affected that we’ll have to find somewhere for them to ‘have class,'” Mullins said.
If you want proof of just how strong the storm was, Alamo parent Chrissy Vandiver said “the concrete stadium bleachers actually moved.”
“The top row moved about 8to 12 inches,” Mullins added.
Mullins said he is just thankful the tornado hit after school hours.
But if it had not been for the administration deciding to cancel after-school activities, particularly a home ball game that was scheduled, kids could have been in danger.
“The time the storm hit would have been about the time that our opponents would have been arriving on the bus, and, as you know, just down the road, two tractor trailers were turned over on their side,” Mullins said.
Elementary school kids will have class Thursday.
Middle school students, like the high schoolers, are off until at least Monday.