PARK CITY — The roof on Park City's school has been repaired following December's wind storm, but more cracks discovered underneath could make the gym unusable when school begins this fall.
Hurricane-level winds tore through much of Montana in December, ripping apart the Park City Schools roof and forcing six weeks of remote learning.
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For residents, the original wind storm was shocking.
"I looked at the four-way stop, and I looked down towards the school and you could see the roof. It was unreal," longtime resident Chris Southworth said Wednesday. "In all my time here, I've never witnessed wind like that."
Wind speeds reached 80 miles per hour and forced the closure of the school because of the damage to the roof. Superintendent David Whitesell said it was challenging for students to go back to remote learning.
"It was almost back to the days of Covid," Whitesell said. "It was hard, but we made it through."
The storm also led to the discovery that asbestos had been in the roof and had blown into yards across town. The EPA directed Southworth and other neighbors to dig up their yards. He made the decision to do so out of safety.
"My wife and I had no experience with this stuff, so we're trusting those people that deal with it all the time," Southworth said.
Southworth said the yard work is still ongoing but expects it to be completed by September.
"You can see where the ground is still soft," Southworth said. "I've got some tracks out there, but it's coming. It's coming."
With the roof needing a quick fix, new roofing was put directly on top of what remained of the original.
"We needed to get a roof on top of things to protect the interior of the gym," Whitesell said.
Engineers then discovered cracks in the original roof below, forcing officials to close the gym for the rest of the school year. Whitesell said it made hosting home basketball games impossible, including senior night celebrations.
"The hard thing was watching the kids and the disappointment," Whitesell said.
The project is currently at a standstill. Engineers have presented two options: rebuild an entirely new roof or weld and plate over the cracks.
Whitesell said fall sports begin Aug. 14 and the goal is to have the gym ready by the start of the school year.
"Hopefully we can have this back put together for our kids," Whitesell said. "I'm an optimist."
Southworth, who's lived in Park City for 70 years, said he believes it will be solved.
"I hope we can solve the problem," Southworth said. "They've got some people over there on the board that I think are go-getters, and they will solve the problem."
