Strong winds and rain caused two large trees to fall around a preschool in Orange County Friday evening, police reported.
The two trees collapsed during rush hour and pickup time at the Ivy League Preschool on Route 32, New Windsor Police said.
Only seven children were left inside the school at the time. The teachers immediately ordered a state-mandated shelter-in-place.
The incident was under control about an hour after the trees fell. No building structures were hit, and no injuries were reported.
According to the preschool’s owner, Ami McGovern, emergency weather protocol trains teachers to bring students away from the windows and toward the center of buildings. In this case, the teacher brought the seven children into a classroom in the middle of the school.
“The teacher in the school took the children to where she thought it was safe, but who knows what would’ve actually happened had the storm kept going. We were very blessed,” McGovern said.
The fallen trees had blocked the entrance, so parents were unable to enter the building. The school remained in lock-down mode until emergency workers arrived.
McGovern said that a mother picking up her child called the storm, “just horrific—one of the worst she’s ever been in.”
Police and city officials eventually freed the remaining students and teachers by chopping up the fallen trees.
“The storm stopped as quick as it started, but there was a lot of damage,” McGovern said. “It’s terrifying because you don’t know what else is going to fall, what else is going to happen, where is it safe.”
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