Blustery weather, with gusts as high as 56 miles per hour, blew across the state and into Pocahontas County Friday, tearing off roofs and turning the lights out on many residents.

The worst of the wind appeared to hit Marlinton around 2 p.m., tearing portions of the roofs from Marlinton Elementary School and two businesses.

Custodian Roy Shearer said he was outside and witnessed the wind lift off part of the roof over the elementary schoolﾒs fourth-grade wing and tossﾠ pieces of the metal roofing material around the building.

At the south end of town, the wind ripped the roofs off of two dry kilns at W.M. Cramer Lumber.

The companyﾒs superintendent, Emery Grimes, estimated new roofs would cost around $100,000. Because of their specialized application on the dry kilns, the company would have to rely on a crew from North Carolina to replace the roofs, said Grimes.

The roof was also partially torn from the Second Avenue building that houses the American Legends cycle shop and The Flower House.

Pocahontas County Schools Superintendent Dr. Patrick Law said the Marlinton Elementary School sustained the worst of the wind damage. Thankfully, he said, no students were outside when the roof came loose.

A telephone line was down at Marlinton Middle School, while the power was ﾓon and offﾔ at Green Bank Elementary / Middle, Law added.

The National Weather Service also reported that a tree limb had fallen on a studentﾒs vehicle in the parking lot at Pocahontas County High School.

Trees and limbs were down across the county, some falling on homes, cars and power lines.

Allegheny Power spokesperson Brooke Rinier said between 300 and 350 customers were affected by the storm. Power was not restored to some homes until late Sunday afternoon, she said.

The wind brought an end to a week of unseasonably warm weather, with temperatures returning to December norms through the weekend and earlier this week.

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