Tornado badly damages Brookville neighborhood, wastewater plant

May 28-- May 28--Brookville's Terrace Park neighborhood and wastewater treatment plant were badly damaged in the tornado that swept through the western Montgomery County city Monday night.

"Structurally, some portions of the homes are totally gone," said Acting City Manager Sonja Keaton. "The amount of trees that were uprooted in that plat is unbelievable. The amount of vehicles that are actually moved from where they were parked. Some of them look like they were actually moved, and they are up against the downed trees."

She said the plat, located off Westbrook Road in southern Brookville, has about 226 homes and at least 25 percent of them are damaged. Keaton said she knew of at least three injuries, with at least one person transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Gas lines were shut down in Terrace Park, and the entire city is under the county-wide boil advisory.

An automotive business at Brookville-Pyrmont and Johnsville-Brookville roads also was leveled, Keaton said.

The city is using a generator to power its wastewater treatment plant, located east of Terrace Park on Wolf Creek St.

"Our wastewater treatment plant took a direct hit," Keaton said. "Our pre-treatment roof caved in. We've got a lot of damage to our lab."

She said no one at the plant was injured, and the city's insurance adjuster is en route. She said trees have fallen into the creek behind the plant and are being removed. The city is working to set up a location at Golden Gate Park for residents to meet with their insurance company adjusters.

Brookville Schools were also closed today after the tornado blew off part of the roof and damaged doors at the K-12 school complex, according to Superintendent Tim Hopkins.

Keaton, who has served as acting city manager for two months, said she has lived in Brookville her whole life and has never seen storm damage like that that has occurred in Terrace Park. She said on some streets every home is severely damaged, while others one street over remain untouched.

She was heading into a staff meeting late Tuesday morning to assess damage and coordinate response and cleanup.

"We are talking about possibly blocking off Westbrook Road because we have a lot of people traveling that way just to see the damage, and it is making the traffic horrendous," Keaton said.

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