The earthquake damage to Louisa County school buildings is devastating. The county calculates the loss at more than $57 million. Wednesday night, we got our first glimpse of what it was like to be inside one of those schools as the quake rocked its foundation.
Louisa County High School was one of the two buildings severely damaged by the quake. While we've seen footage of the destruction after the quake hit, we have our first look of what went on while it was happening - bringing to life what students and teachers went through that afternoon.
Security cameras in Louisa County High School caught everything on tape when Mother Nature struck, rolling when the first rumble hit. The ceiling then collapses, bending the frames and sending tiles crashing to the ground.
Next, the start of a student scramble is seen. Teachers and staff are trying to figure out what happened and what to do next. Kids rush out of the classrooms, escaping frantically to a safer place.
Then we see Superintendent Deborah Pettit directing students out of the building before anyone gets hurt.
"We're just trying to get us back to normal and trying to have a school year," said Dr. Pettit.
Crews are loading up storage pods this week with everything that filled classrooms at Thomas Jefferson Elementary, a school with a similar scene of devastation.
Dr Pettit stated, "I said all of our emotions are running high, but let's all work together. We're all going to be inconvenienced, hopefully for short term, until January, beginning of February, hopefully just for that while. And then we will move ahead with as normal of a school year as we can."
Superintendent Pettit says they hope to have the mobile classrooms up and running by the end of the semester, so the high schoolers can move out of the middle school. But it will probably be years before they're back in their old building.
