Wind accompanying a thunderstorm that darted through Iola in the wee hours Friday morning toppled a large tree onto Family Solutions Counseling Center, 219 N. Jefferson Ave.
Jonelle Leslie noticed the tree sprawled across the building’s roof at 2 a.m.
“I don’t like storms and when this one began I got up and went for a drive,” said Leslie, who lives on the second floor of a house next door. “When I got back, I saw this humongous tree in my south yard had fallen over the building.”
Mike and Rhoda Schwindt own the building, where she provides counseling.
Vernon Lee owns the property where the tree had grown for decades.
“I’m going to miss it,” Leslie added. “It was the only shade on the south side of the house.”
Schwindt said he looked in the affected building’s attic and “didn’t see any limbs protruding through the roof.” But, said wife Rhoda, “it is wet inside,” from the meager amount of rain that came with the storm, officially measured in Iola at .21 of an inch.
“There’s a lot of weight in that tree,” Mike Schwindt continued. “See how those limbs (several inches in diameter) broke when it hit.”
Albert Radford, who has a tree service, was on hand early Friday morning to begin figuring how to cut the tree into pieces and remove it from the roof. An insurance adjuster will do a damage appraisal.
“The good thing was no one was hurt,” said Rhoda Schwindt.
Other tree damage occurred around town, including a large limb that fell across the 500 block of North Elm Street, closing the street for several hours. Other limbs also were wrenched free, but in no particular pattern about town.
“We haven’t had reports of any significant damage or power outages,” said Corey Schinstock, assistant city administrator.
