By now you’ve probably read news reports about — and seen photos of — the barrage of tornados that ripped through southeast Virginia last Monday, injuring 200 people, flattening 145 homes, and causing an estimated $21 million in damages. But you might not have heard about Elephant's Fork Elementary School in Suffolk, Virginia. Sitting just an hour outside of Virginia Beach and less than 20 miles north of the North Carolina border, the school was struck by one of the tornados late in the afternoon, after school had let out and most of the children had gone home (thankfully).
But Virginia Education Association member Sidney Neighbours, the Assistant Principal at Elephant’s Fork, was still in the school building, along with a handful of other staff members and roughly 45 students who were participating in after-school programs, when the tornado struck. Mr. Neighbours describes the harrowing moments during which the storm shattered windows and shook the building, while teachers and students scrambled for refuge in the gymnasium:
I heard my principal scream and I ran out of the office to the gym -- just moments before the glass blew out in the window right behind my desk. If I’d been sitting there, this e-mail would be very different. I ended up running into the gym and crouching on the floor, holding a student who was in the hallway (she was returning to class from the restroom, I grabbed her as I was running into the gym). It was all over in just a few seconds, which seemed like hours… I didn't even have to get a band-aid out of the nurse’s office... It is nothing short of a miracle. We have 3 mobile units blown off the foundations, and every car in the parking lot sustained damage, including one that was flipped over and thrown about 3 car lengths away from where it was parked… but there's no way we could replace any of the precious lives in that building -- so "stuff" doesn't matter. Thank God, no one was injured...
Below is a picture of the same tornado (taken by Marsha Mears on April 28, 2008) as it touched down near Elephant’s Fork Elementary School.
Amazingly the twister battered Elephant’s Fork Elementary (and nearby Driver Elementary) but caused only minor damages: a few downed trees and smashed windows. Suffolk Public schools were closed the day after the tornados, but Elephant’s Fork reopened to staff at noon the following day… and Mr. Neighbours was there to greet them.
Several relief organizations in southeast Virginia are accepting donations. NEA has resources that may help teachers address the fears and anxieties of students who may be troubled by media coverage of natural disasters like the tornados that struck southeast Virginia.
Labels: natural-disaster
