13 May 2023
WESKAN, Kan. (KSNW) – The Weskan community is picking up after severe storms hit the town Thursday, uprooting trees and damaging homes and buildings, including the high school.
Earlier in the day, there was tornadic activity happening just across the Colorado state line.
“It was terrifying,” said Sandy Miller, Weskan resident.
“It was shocking, like ‘Oh man, it really did happen,'” said Jeff Montero, Weskan High School Principal.
Many Weskan High School students and staff were on campus for track practice when the storm hit.
“It was just where are the kids and get them to safety,” said Julie Aldridge, Weskan High School coach.
Students and staff took shelter, finding damage as soon as they came out.
“It damaged the roof enough even on the big gym that it was like a waterfall cause it was still raining outside,” said Montero.
The storm picked up and flipped over the school’s new bleachers, knocked over the scoreboard, ripped two roofs off, shattered windows, damaged track equipment, and more.
“Word spread very quickly immediately as soon as the danger was clear. Community members were at the school making sure everybody was okay and helping clean up,” said Aldridge.
“We were drying all our floors and, you know, picking up glass. We were boarding up broken windows,” said Montero.
Debris scattered across the town and struck Miller’s home.
“Shattered one of my bedroom windows, basically destroyed my car, shattering three windows, something hit and scraped up the front. It was just devastating,” said Miller.
Home damage in Weskan on May 11 (Courtesy: Eric Young)
Home damage in Weskan on May 11 (Courtesy: Eric Young)
Storm damage southeast of Weskan (Courtesy: Eric Young)
The community wasted no time helping.
“Cutting up trees that had fallen over, picking up debris. They had really come together. It was amazing to see,” said Miller.
Graduation for the high school was scheduled to take place at the school’s football field Saturday, but since the storm hit, new plans have been made. Seniors will now walk at Risen King Community Church, 504 Chesley Ave.
In addition, the district still has four days left in the school year. Due to the damage, Montero says they will not be using the school for the rest of the year. Instead, they will be moving forward with planned field trips.
“We’re still going to do those. And then the people that we’re not going to be involved at are going to do some distance learning, some career or career exploration with their parents and stuff and kind of checking in with their teachers,” said Montero.
Montero says they are still figuring out what to do on the last day of school.
No injuries were reported from the storm.