Published: August 17, 2009 12:46 am         

Storms damage school, knocks down building in Goltry

Storms pounded the area Sunday night causing considerable damage at Chisholm High School. A number of area farm buildings also were destroyed.

At Chisholm High School, pieces of tin roofing and limbs were scattered across the parking lot. One strip of roofing was wrapped around the gate of the parking lot. Trees on the east side of the parking lot were split, and Chisholm High School Principal Jaymie Morley said the marquee was blown out.

The building housing the school agriculture program was heavily damaged, and a pair of portable classrooms also were destroyed. Two ticket booths at the football stadium were blown away along with a new scoreboard at the baseball stadium, which recently had been installed.

There was no apparent damage to the main school building and classes will be held at usual today, Morley said.

Morley said the portable classroom trailers were twisted in a ball.

“It didn’t look like straight line winds to me,” she said.

Mike Honigsberg, Garfield County Emergency Management director said most of the damage in the Enid was done by straight line winds. There was some damage in the Northwood area of Enid, north of Garland, he said.

“We have some pretty rough weather up north,” he said.

However, Honigsberg said about 8:30 p.m. the city of Enid was safe at the moment.

“We’re keeping a close eye on the storms,” he said.

The storms also dumped more than six inches of rain from Carrier, across U.S. 81 to Kremlin. The damage mostly was caused by straight winds and lightning, according to Honigsberg.

Storms threatening to become tornadoes were spotted west of Vance Air Force Base about 10:30 p.m. North of town lightning struck a tank battery which exploded and caused a fire.

Storm winds blew down a vacant building in Goltry Sunday as church services next door were ending.

Jamie Coulter, a member of New Covenant Fellowship in Goltry, said the building was vacant, and although some nearby automobiles were damaged by falling bricks, there were no injuries. Coulter said there are a number of old buildings that are in poor condition along the same street.

The building that collapsed is attached to the church on one side and a local bar,The Farm, on the other side.

“We’ve been talking to the city for years. There are vacant buildings about to fall, and the city hasn’t done anything. An Enid man owns it. We complained it was dangerous,” she said.

About 25 people had attended a business meeting at the church and had remained after the conclusion of the meeting for snacks. No one from the church was outside.

Church member Cotton Delay, of Helena, was near the front door when the building collapsed.

“It was just a boom and bricks started falling on the sidewalk,” Delay said.

The building dates back to statehood or before, he said. Delay said the building on both sides of the church had been condemned.

A wall separates the church and the vacant building. Coulter said the church has been remodeled and is in good condition.

Assistant Fire Chief Jon Nichols said he received the call about the building about 8 p.m. He said the building fell due to straight line winds.

“It was an old abandoned building,” he said.



Staff writer Chris Dell also contributed to this story.