High winds early Tuesday morning damaged the roof at Kaneland High School in Maple Park. (Brian Aversa / HANDOUT)
Strong winds around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday took off about 75% of Kaneland High School’s main gymnasium roof, and snapped some ComEd poles which also caused a power outage at the rural Kane County school in Maple Park.
“It pretty much peeled the whole roof off,” said Mark Payton, director of buildings and grounds at Kaneland, about the winds.
“We were just lucky it was summer, and there was no rain associated with the wind,” he said. “There was no water damage.”
To keep it that way, a contractor was called immediately and hoped to have the damaged building “weather tightened” enough to withstand “the next round of rain” that was expected later on Tuesday, said Payton.
“We definitely got the brunt of the storm,” he added, a statement confirmed by Kane County Sheriff Chief Deputy Pat Gengler, who noted no other reports of structural damage in the area from the high winds.
Payton hoped to get an estimate of the damage at the school in the next few days.
dcrosby@tribpub.com
Copyright © 2021, Chicago Tribune
Copyright © 2021, Chicago Tribune