By Becca Robb | Echo
Last Saturday, winds in excess of 60 mph swept through Upland and wreaked havoc on Taylor's campus.
Facilities Service Director Greg Eley, who's lived in the area for nearly a decade, said this was the worst wind he's ever seen in Upland.
Several trees went down on campus during Saturday afternoon. Perhaps the most visible was the 186-year old oak tree that stood between Wengatz and the Memorial Prayer Chapel.
Senior Thomas Holton, a grounds student employee, was one of the first to notice the oak tree's fall. Holton was on the phone when it fell around 3 p.m. As soon as he heard the crash, he wrapped up his phone conversation and called Kerry Shanebooks, grounds superintendent. Shanebrooks rushed to the scene within minutes and set up barricades around the tree as a safety precaution.
Holton said he was surprised the tree didn't completely uproot. The bottom of the tree was rotted out from termites or ants, but it wasn't entirely dead inside, Shanebrook said.
Grounds employees worked 29 hours on Sunday and Monday to clean up the remains from the oak tree. Using a couple of chainsaws, they chopped the tree into smaller, more manageable pieces, some of which were tossed into a chipper. Shanebrook estimated the total cost of labor and grinding the stump will be about $654. He said they saved about $1,500 by cleaning it up themselves instead of using a tree service.
Besides the oak, several other trees also were damaged. Students walking between Wengatz and the library may have noticed that the flowering pear tree lost a large branch, though Shanebrook said the pear tree should survive the trauma. A couple of ash trees near the president's house also fell this weekend.
However, the community members don't need to worry about Taylor's deforestation. President Eugene Habecker's policy is to replace each dead tree by planting two new trees, mostly hardwoods like oaks.
The same wind that stripped branches off of trees also tore shingles off of several roofs. The roofs of Wengatz, Olsen, Boyd, Sickler and Samuel Morris were particularly affected, and Eley estimated roofing repairs will cost around $7,500.
Another pending cost is repairing the hammer throw cage behind the football fieldhouse. Grounds has tied tractors to it to brace it against the wind, though it was bent out of shape and will require further reinforcement. If fixed by a service, repairs will cost about $2,000, Shanebrook said.
In the heart of campus, it's hard to miss the yellow caution tape strung around the Bell Tower. Eley said they found pieces of brick on the ground around the tower and roped off the area until further inspection. Contractors will evaluate the Tower to determine any necessary repairs to keep passersby safe and ensure the structural integrity of the Tower.
Beyond Taylor's campus, the wind upended three semi-trucks on I-69 during whiteout conditions late Saturday afternoon, according to Lieutenant Jeremy Kelly with the Indiana State Police Peru. Kelly said no one was harmed, although the wind did cause property damage.
Sergeant Ron Galaviz of the Indiana State Police Ft. Wayne, said the trucks probably upended because they were empty, or a load may have shifted inside. He said drivers should be especially cautious around trucks, the sides of which like sails in the wind.
"You never know what will happen," Galaviz said.
