OLYMPIA, Wash. — This is the damage to the Olympia Waldorf Private School. A tree hit this century-old building with a handful of children and faculty inside.
"Certainly everybody was scared and shaken," said Jerry Berebitsky, facilities manager. "But we had some faculty here and read some stories here and talked and hugged. And everybody calmed down and relaxed. And no one was hurt."
That is the story of this storm. Chopper 7 shows the large swath of damage in East Olympia and Lacey. It knocked trees into homes and power lines. But incredibly, no one was hurt. Damage, however, is everywhere.
"It was one of the scariest things I have ever had happen," said Viki Jessop.
It happened as she and her dog, Quincy, huddled inside their house.
"My dog and I took off for the other side of the house," she said. "And about that time was when I heard a crack and a boom. And the tree came down in the house."
Now the floor is covered in what was once inside the roof and the ceiling.
"Well, I had no clue there was even a super storm of any kind coming," Jessop said. "It was very, very strange."
Strange, too, to Jerry Berebitsky. And he grew up in tornado-prone Indiana.
"It looks like any disaster," he said. "An earthquake, a tornado, flood. They all have some similarities. And yeah, that's what it looks and feels like."
The National Weather Service says what hit this area is called a 'wet microburst' of rain and wind, not a tornado.
Cox Media Group
