WOODLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Around 200 students were evacuated from a Barry County school as strong winds began blowing off part of the building’s roof Wednesday morning.
The incident happened around 10 a.m. at Lakewood Early Childhood Center on W. Broadway Street in Woodland Township, south of Lake Odessa.
The superintendent of Lakewood Public Schools says administrators were in a meeting when they started to notice the roof coming undone. They went into a tornado drill, as students were familiar with that kind of procedure, and quickly moved them to nearby Lakewood High School.
The superintendent says no one was injured. Parents are asked to pick up their children at the high school. If they are not able to do so, the kids will be released at the normal dismissal time and brought home on buses.
Parents tell 24 Hour News 8 they were very happy with how the situation was handled by the district.
Lakewood Early Childhood Center will be closed through Thursday as a result of the damage to the roof.
The strong winds are expected to intensify throughout the day. A High Wind Warning remains in effect for 19 counties in west and mid-Michigan, including Ionia, Kalamazoo, Allegan, Barry, Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon and Montcalm counties.