Saturday storms damage new Waxahachie High School
A Saturday afternoon storm system dumped loads of rain on North Texas and may have spurred a few tornados.
The National Weather Service says it will send teams to several areas on Sunday to determine where, and how strong, those tornados were.
Hard winds did some damage to the brand new Waxahachie High School that just opened this year.
“Streetlights that have been knocked down, we had some damage to the fencing surrounding our athletic fields out here as well as three vehicles that were on the property that belonged to students and parents,” said Waxahachie ISD Assistant Superintendent of Leadership and Academics, Shelle Baylock.
One of those damaged cars belonged to Sharon Boyd.
“I knew we were parked by the green bus, and I'd seen a picture of the bus upside so I assumed my car wouldn't be here so I'm surprised it was here,” she said.
Boyd, a parent with the district, was traveling with the school’s marching band on their way back from a competition in Waco, as tornado warnings went out in both the Waxahachie and Waco areas.
“There was another warning in Waco right when we left the band contest to come back and shelter at a place up there,” she said.
Monica Gomez’s son attends Waxahachie High School and was also traveling with the band. Both of her children have been in band for years and she says the green bus that ended up tossed upside down in a nearby field used to be their band bus.
“It's sad because it's a lot of memories, four years. In 2009, my daughter enrolled in band and we got used to oh there's the bus. And now it's upside down,” she said.
School officials say the only people on property were a few students and staff members. They were inside for a weekend theatre workshop, but sheltered in place as they listened to the damage being done outside.
“None of them were injured, they're all just excited to have gone through something like that and we're so thankful nothing happened to anyone on our property,” said Baylock. “Just thank goodness that our students and staff were safe, and that this was not a day the building was full of students.”
Weekend activities at Waxahachie High School have been canceled as crews work to clean up the damage. School officials say they’ll be ready when students return to class on Monday.