JOHNSTON, Iowa — Johnston High School students had Wednesday, May 22, off after the building sustained "extensive storm damage" in Tuesday's severe storms.
The school, located at 6500 NW 100th Street in Johnston, was in the path of devastating severe weather on May 21, which decimated small towns and caused power outages across the state.
Multiple school districts, including Des Moines Public Schools and Southeast Polk, dismissed students early because of weather or weather-related issues on Tuesday.
Johnston High School shared the following announcements on its website:
"Senior Awards Night, originally scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight, is POSTPONED due to extensive storm damage at Johnston High School. A new date has not yet been determined, but we will get your awards and cords to you before graduation! Also due to extensive damage, there will be NO SCHOOL at Johnston High School tomorrow, on Wednesday, May 22. We ask staff to please not be in the building during this time. We will run an 8-period day on Thursday."
Multiple parents have applauded the school district for closing early the day of the storm, with one saying that her son was scheduled for sports practice around the time the storm hit. Another parent told Local 5 that the way the storm was handled increased her trust in the school's ability to make hard decisions in order to keep students safe.
The district says that some of the storm damage includes a shed that’s a total loss, broken windows and downed fencing.
Johnston High School will be back open on Thursday, according to school officials. Cleanup has been going well and crews have been on the ground preparing the school to open back up.
Neighborhoods around the school were hit as well. A couple houses right next to the school had roof damage. One of the families in that neighborhood told Local 5 that they’re dealing with damaged fencing, siding and trees.
Other neighbors reported damage as well such as a blown-out window and messed up fencing.
One neighbor told Local 5 that the tornado sounded like a freight train and it happened so fast that she thought she was hearing things.
About 10 to 15 minutes out from the school, a tree fell on a house. Crews were hard at work taking care of the damage Wednesday afternoon.
Johnston wasn't the only part of Polk County hit. Polk County Emergency Management has been out assessing damage throughout the county Wednesday.
“A lot of tree and debris damage in town and as you get north of the city, of Des Moines proper, you start to run into a little bit more in terms of structure damage," said Brett McIntyre with Polk County EMA.
McIntyre said clean up will take at least a couple weeks.
“With what we’ve seen both in Polk County in previous weeks and now across the state, you know, a lot of the crews are going to work long hours so there will start to be maybe some backups in terms of looking at home repairs and insurance calls as well," he said.
When comparing emergency management's response to the recent Pleasant Hill damage, McIntyre said this response will be more complicated due to the damage being more widespread and across multiple jurisdictions.
Keep in mind that EMA assessment is still ongoing so officials are expecting to find more pockets of damage as we head closer to the weekend, according to McIntyre.
The tornado that went through Polk and Story counties has been rated as an EF-2, with peak winds hitting 135 miles an hour.