West Clark Community Schools

BELFOR restored the West Clark Community School campus in Indiana after a massive EF4 tornado devastated the building and athletic facilities.

It took less than 23 seconds for a massive F-4 tornado to rip through the small community of Henryville in March. The community’s only school campus – which housed elementary, middle and high school students – took a direct hit in the tornado’s destructive path.

Despite severe damage to the building, administrators had an ambitious goal: finish the school year, rebuild and be ready for classes to start in August.

BELFOR worked with school board officials, administrators, local authorities and the insurance adjuster to develop and implement a plan that would relocate elementary and high school students to temporary locations — an old school building no longer in use and a building in an industrial park. The buildings had to be gutted, brought up to code and pass inspection. While crews were making the necessary changes, BELFOR salvaged contents from the tornado-damaged site. The contents were cleaned, packed and delivered to the temporary locations. In just two weeks, elementary school classes resumed; high school students resumed classes in three weeks.