000
NWUS54 KMOB 261737
LSRMOB
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
1236 PM CDT THU APR 26 2007
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1107 AM TSTM WND DMG 4 W CENTURY 30.98N 87.33W
04/26/2007 ESCAMBIA FL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
ROOFS TORN OFF SEVERAL OUT BUILDINGS AND THE CORNER OF A
HOUSE HAD ROOF DAMAGE ALONG HWY 4.
(snip)
0908 AM TSTM WND DMG BROOKLEY FIELD AIRPORT 30.64N 88.07W
04/26/2007 MOBILE AL EMERGENCY MNGR
AC UNIT BLOWN OFF THE GYM AT BC RAIN HIGH SCHOOL WHICH IS
NEAR BROOKLEY. THE DAMAGE WAS ALONG THE LEADING EDGE OF A
BOW ECHO. NO INJURIES.
There were some scary moments for the students at that school. It was even scarier when the wind damage caused a gas leak. Here's the story from one of our local TV stations (WALA TV):
Severe weather damages school
April 26, 2007 03:57 PM CDT
By Sheldra Brigham
MOBILE - A scary morning after students are sent home from school.
Severe weather damaged B.C. Rain High School in Mobile.
It all happened in seconds. But to principal Joe Toomey, the seconds it took to cause the damage seemed much longer. "It was scary. We were watching the rain. It was raining pretty hard but the wind wasn't blowing and then it got dark and when I ran by the door, the wind almost knocked me down," said Toomey.
Around that time, our Stormtracker Radar picked up winds topping out at 45 miles an hour near B.C. Rain.
Toomey says the decision was made to get all the students into the hallways. Students stayed there for a couple of minutes.
"They could smell the gas there and we moved them to the cafeteria and then outside," he said.
Here's what caused most of the damage and led to the gas leak. High winds slung two 6,000 pound air conditioning units that were on the roof of the gym into the courtyard.
"The package units on the roof were gas-fired units, both heating and cooling. When it pulled the unit off the roof the natural gas line was exposed," said Tommy Sheffield, Mobile County Schools.
With the source of the leak known, the gas was shut off. Students waited outside on the lawn for parents or buses to take them home. Even before that, repairs were underway.
No one was injured at B.C. Rain. For that, Principal Toomey is thankful. With the tragedy at Enterprise High School still fresh on everyone's mind, he knows his school was lucky. "It's also amazing that after this happened the bell rang. If it had happened a minute before there would have been about 100 kids where those six thousand pound air conditioning are. It lets you know somebody was looking out for us," he said.
School system officials are planning to have school Friday. Though students were sent home, administrators were on campus the rest of the school day.