CORVALLIS — The wind on Dec. 17 whipped through the Bitterroot, taking the Corvallis School District Office's roof with it.
After power lines toppled, precautions were taken and the students sent home.
"Metal was ripping off and flying around so much so that it was crossing the Eastside Highway and into campus," Superintendent Pete Joseph said.
That debris closed a section of Eastside Highway but that wasn't all.
"Two power lines snapped at our primary school, which fell into the street, which immediately shut down the traffic flow," Joseph detailed.
As a precaution, Corvallis Primary School was evacuated and all students were gathered in the high school.
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"I'm super proud of our administrative staff and our teachers and all of our families. We were able to basically move 500 kids and personnel," Joseph told MTN.
While the exact wind impacts couldn't have been predicted, Joseph says preparation was key in keeping students and staff safe.
"Our incident command team put together in the morning. We met at 8:45. We were ready to go," Joseph said.
Once there was a break in the gusts, everyone was sent home for the day.
"We had one artery or a thoroughfare coming in from Woodside, 93. That was the only street that we could use, so we had to do a pretty quick release to get kids home and safely with families," Joseph explained.
The district will be remote learning for the rest of the week until Christmas break.
For those with power still knocked out, students have another option to get assignments finished.
"Not only do we have remote instruction within our within our Google Classroom, we also have those exact assignments printed off ready to go," Joseph noted.
While the damage is still being assessed, Joseph is proud of how his community responded in the stressful circumstances.
"Corvallis Fire, City of Hamilton Police, our SRO, and Ravalli County Police. I mean it was a coordinated effort. I feel really good about the communication and the way we attacked it together," Joseph said.
