Central State Track star Baron Wilson ran for cover May 27, 2019, as alarm sirens sounded in Greene County.
“It was raining super hard and lightning was flashing,” Wilson said. “I was just trying to make it to the next building.”
Eighty-one students, two police officers, and a housing coordinator ran from Foundation Hall One to Green and Anderson halls to seek better safety as 16 tornados hit four Ohio cities.
Police Chief Stephanie Hill monitored the tornados progress on a computer screen while on vacation out of state. “I saw this smaller sail detach from the massive sail, and it began heading our way,” Hill said. “All of a sudden, that whole sail was hovering over CSU.”
Hill said that the tornado might have struck campus had it not been moving so fast.
“It was going about 40-45 miles per hour, so it was on the move,” she said. “It was in rotation and landed in Cedarville.”
Most students did not know about the tornado until the county siren sounded, “I just wanted everyone to be safe,” student Candice Rolle said. Sophomore Xaryn Cleare ran for cover. “I just prayed that it didn’t hit us, and if it did, we didn’t lose our lives.”
Assistant Director of Residence Life Justyn Fry helped students get to safety. “I’m not new to a tornado encounter, so I was able to remain calm and direct everyone because of my training and experience with the university,” Fry said.
Fry played music and minigames to keep students calm. “Students began getting tense,” he said. “I was just trying to keep individuals calm through what could have been a really traumatic experience.”
Chief Hill said the county’s Hyper-Reach program was activated Monday. By default, Hyper-reach transmits a voice message to every resident’s home phone during emergencies. Residents can also request texts, email, and messages to their cell phones.
Central State is also installing an alarm system with beacons throughout campus. “The weather aspect of the alarm system will be ready to go hopefully before the end of June,” Hill said. “It has the capability of alerting the beacons when the sirens go off.”
The whole alarm system will be fully operational for all students in the fall semester.
A tornado destroyed about eighty-percent of Central State’s campus and caused $30 million in damage April 3, 1974, The storm killed four people and injured more than twenty others. It took the university more than a decade to recover from the devastation.
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