ORRICK, Mo. – On Sunday Orrick High School looked like a war zone; storm damage all around this school and several roofs now blown away.
All around Orrick, people are talking about the EF-2 tornado which socked a powerful punch to the small town.
“It really came out of nowhere because it had actually been a beautiful day,” said Scott Archibald, the principal of the school.
The supersize storm hit around 5:30 Saturday afternoon, packing winds of up to 135 miles- per-hour.
“I never knew winds could be so strong like this. You don’t know until it actually hits your town,” said McKenna Wright, a student of the school.
The tornado ripped the roof right off Orrick High School’s main building, seriously damaged the roofs of the gym and school’s agriculture building, busted out lots of windows and left behind massive destruction.
“I think it’s just sad that the school is damaged,” said student Caleb Stegner. “The day before, I was in there walking down the hallway. Never thought that would happen.”
“In all honestly, it’s going to be kind of tough you know because it’s all pretty well torn up, but thank God no one was injured and everyone was safe,” said teacher Don Honeycut.
Due to the giant storm, seniors’ graduation ceremony, which is scheduled for next weekend, will now be moved from Orrick High School to Excelsior Springs High School.
“I wanted to walk across that stage, not somewhere else. Like I was supposed to, graduate here and not in Excelsior,” said Aubrie Gray, a senior at the school.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to do that for our seniors, that have been in this building their whole life and then we have to move their graduation, but unfortunately this is the way it is and we’ll make the best of it,” said Archibald.
(Tornado video courtesy of stormchasingvideo.com)
