This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, April 25, 2011 - Maybe lightning doesn't strike the same place twice, but apparently tornadoes aren't familiar with the same rule.
Griffith Elementary School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District will be closed for the remainder of the school year because of damage done by Friday night's tornado to its roof -- the same spot that was devastated by a tornado in 1967, the last time that officials say the St. Louis area was hit by a twister so strong.
The 671 students who usually attend the school, located at 200 Day Drive in Ferguson, will attend either Johnson-Wabash Elementary, for students in kindergarten through second grade, or Ferguson Middle, for students in grades three through six. Buses that normally took kids to Griffith will take them to their new school; students who normally walked to Griffith will be picked up there.
Staff members began calling parents over the weekend to tell them of the new arrangements once the extent of the damage to the school became clear. On Easter Sunday, they arrived at Griffith to begin packing up books and other supplies so that students would be able to resume class on Monday.
"It was a long weekend for a lot of people to ensure that kids wouldn't have any interruption in their instructional time," said district spokeswoman Nancy Keyser.
"We've had people calling, people from outside of the district, with an outpouring of support. It's really been heartwarming."
On Jan. 24, 1967, a tornado struck in north St. Louis County along a very similar path to the one that hit on Friday night. The National Weather Service said the violent storm -- the last F4 tornado to hit the region before the most recent one -- tore up a path of destruction that stretched for 21 miles, starting in Chesterfield and moving eastward before weakening as it crossed into Illinois. According to a photo and caption in the Post-Dispatch the next day, the tornado tore the roof off a large room at Griffith school that was used as a gym and cafeteria.
A similar scene at Griffith greeted workers from Catco, the Catastrophic Cleaning and Restoration Co., who were working at the site Monday morning to clear away debris blown from the roof onto the playground and through a chain link fence to the area behind the school.
Ted Deaton, who was supervising the cleanup, pointed to one heap of roofing material about 500 yards from the building and estimated it weighed a ton. Then he pointed to a metal post that was bent almost to the ground but was pointing in the opposite direction, back toward the school.
"Look at this," he said. "The storm was moving this way, away from the school, and blew that roofing material all the way over here, but it also bent that post in the opposite direction. That's unbelievable. It shows you just how powerful that twist in the wind can be. I probably wouldn't be able to bend that post with my Bobcat over there."
Hearing about the damage at Griffith school brought back not-so-fond memories for Peggy Kruse, who lived in the area 44 years ago, shortly after she had gotten married. She told the Beacon she recalled how safe and sturdy her brick ranch house, a couple of blocks from the school that her two children would end up attending, felt compared with the home she had grown up in north St. Louis.
On Tuesday evening, Jan. 24, 1967, she remembered, the storm was much quieter than she expected.
"We had a front door with windows along the top," Kruse said. "My husband was standing at the front door. He was calm, saying I should come and look at the wind. So I stood on my tippy toes and looked out the windows. Then we found out later that what we had heard was the tornado blowing over our house."
In addition to the destruction at Griffith, power outages forced Ferguson-Florissant to close Airport elementary and Central middle schools Monday because of power outages — the same reason that the Pattonville and Riverview Gardens school districts were shut down. Both districts will be back in session on Tuesday, though some bus routes may have to be changed because of debris remaining in the street.
As crews continued their cleanup and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport added more flights, the rain kept falling, with the threat of more violent weather. Lambert said it expects to be flying a full schedule on Tuesday.
The forecast called for a break in the precipitation on Thursday before the showers return for the weekend.
That outlook was not good news for parts of Missouri and other nearby states where flooding was beginning to be a threat. In Poplar Bluff, evacuations were ordered as the levees holding back rising water from the Black River threatened to give way. Gov. Jay Nixon activated the Missouri National Guard to help local officials cope with the impending floods.
Nixon also issued an executive order designed to help speed cleanup from the storms by waiving certain statues or administrative rules.
"While we are thankful there were no deaths or serious injuries from the tornadoes on Good Friday, they left hundreds of homes destroyed or badly damaged in their wake," he said. "This order will help families remove debris and rebuild more quickly, and protect public health and safety. My administration will continue to work with local officials to provide the support and resources to help those impacted by the tornadoes to recover."
Unless extended, the order will expire on May 23. Nixon had already declared a state of emergency on Friday and has spoken with White House officials to seek federal disaster funds.