Hundreds of downed trees are among TCC’s ‘significant’ damages from recent tornado
As Tallahassee Community College proceeds with repairs more than a week after three EF-2 tornadoes swept through the capital city, storm impacts included more than 400 downed or damaged trees, broken windows and vehicles declared total losses on campus.
TCC President Jim Murdaugh says the electrical substation that serves TCC’s campus with energy was also “completely destroyed” by the tornado and had to be rebuilt from scratch.
“We had some significant impact to our campus, but we’re so fortunate that we had no one injured,” Murdaugh told the Tallahassee Democrat Monday following a Board of Trustees meeting on campus.
“We count it as a blessing that the tornado happened at a time where we didn’t have a lot of people on campus yet.”
The unprecedented tornadoes' path shows that the first EF-2 tornado on May 10 — which had winds at 115 mph — passed across Pat Thomas Boulevard and led to significant tree damage on the campuses of TCC and Lively Technical College before it crossed Appleyard Drive, according to the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.
More on tornadoes: Point of convergence: Tracking the Tallahassee tornadoes' havoc in maps, words and photos
Power was restored to most of TCC’s campus as of May 13, and the college reopened May 14. Power was fully restored as of Thursday, according to a TCC report.
Work is still being done at to remove debris from the hundreds of tree damages. At the same time, the violent storm also broke windows in four buildings on the campus — some of which are scheduled for repair while others have already been repaired — and two TCC-owned trucks that were deemed a total loss.
In addition, 12 buildings have minor roof damage and will be repaired, but some of them may need to be covered by warranties for new construction, according to TCC Vice President of Administrative Services and Chief Business Officer Barbara Wills.
TCC buildings that were severely impacted include the Workforce Development building as well as the Technology and Professional Programs building. The college’s charter high school — Tallahassee Collegiate Academy — is located on TCC’s campus as well but was not damaged by the storm, Wills said.
Damaged sidewalks and asphalt will also need to be repaired after the college’s tree removal process is complete.
An early estimate of the college’s damage costs have not been made available yet, according to Wills, who explained that TCC hopes to meet Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) standards in order to get reimbursed once an estimated dollar amount is determined.
Despite the severe impact of the storm, Murdaugh is optimistic about TCC’s efforts to get back to normal while the damage repairs could take a couple of months.
“Beautification will take a little while,” Murdaugh said, “but I promise you that a year from now, you will never even know that this happened.”
Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on X: @tarahjean_.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: TCC campus dealing with historic damage after Tallahassee tornadoes
