Tornado Causes Millions in Damage at Norris School

By: Risa Avila

Updated: Fri 7:17 PM, Mar 18, 2005

Saturday night’s tornado severely damaged the Norris school campus in Firth, destroying everything from the football field to the auditorium.

Alex Baruth is a sophomore at Norris High School, said, “It’s weird because I was just there three days ago for my last day of school.”

Now, after the school has been hit by a tornado, his school’s destroyed. Just hours after the twister hit Saturday night, residents came to see the damage. Sunday morning, Baruth visited the campus to see just how bad it really was.

“Pretty much the auditorium is destroyed and there’s like one wall standing,” says Baruth.

He is just one of the many students with no school to go to next year.

School Supt. Roy Bakers says the following school year could be delayed.

“It could very well be that students are going to have a little bit longer summer break than they had anticipated, and conversely maybe next year they will have a shorter summer break than they had anticipated,” says Bakers.

Structural engineers came out to the school Sunday morning to assess the damages.

“There’s nothing that requires zero repair,” Says Baker.

He also says there is at least $1 million in damage alone. Everything from the carpet to the roof has to be replaced. Baruth just hopes to have a classroom to go to next year. He is also thankful for all the community support in this time of need.

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