North Greenville University officials said Tuesday that despite heavy damage from Monday's storms, the school will be open and ready for classes on Aug. 13.
The school is attempting to recover from heavy damage after a possible microburst ripped the roof off their University Administration Building Monday.
On Tuesday, it was reported that the University had lost utilities, including phone and internet services. The university only had one phone line operating as of Tuesday morning. Later in the day, News Channel 7 reporters said that the power at the school was on and maintenance workers were clearing the campus grounds.
Despite the damage, and because the building had two layers to the roof, water damage to the facilities were minimal.
News Channel 7 reporters said the school would be ready for a record number of students this year, about 2,100.
The winds damaging the university were part of a line of heat-induced storms that left downed trees, power lines, and numerous lightning strikes across the Upstate Monday evening.
Over 16,000 Upstate people on the Duke Power system had their power interrupted. In Chesnee, a tree crashed through a home on Rabbitt Moffit Road, and lines closed portions of Highway 11. Lightning also struck a storage building behind a home on Melvin Hill Road in the New Prospect community. In Anderson, a tree fell through a home on Joy Street. There were no reported injuries in any of these incidents. The storms may have also caused a forest fire on top of White Oak Mountain in Polk County, according to the Columbus fire chief.
At North Greenville University the roof was torn off the University Administration and blown into the Neves Academic Building. School President Jimmy Epting tells News Channel 7 that close to 700 campers and students were at the chapel around 8 pm when the storm hit, and were about 15 minutes from having classes in the Neves and Donnan Administration Building.
“You step back, and then when you hear everyone is ok…that’s when you get on your knees and say, thank you Jesus", said Epting. He said the school will still reopen to students for fall classes. Epting told News Channel 7, “Buildings can be fixed, but lives lost, we don’t want any of that. Buildings are just temporary….and we feel like we can get everything done in time".
Damage could be into the millions.
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