More for photos of the collapse
(Teays Valley) - Investigators are searching for clues that will help them determine what brought down part of a gym roof at a central Ohio high school Saturday. Officials at Teays Valley High School in Pickaway County discovered the collapse around 11:30am.
The roof was being renovated. A portion covering the south balcony of the original gymnasium collapsed.
"They'd already peeled part of the roof off and I think where they moved the gravel and the structure over to the other side it may have just overloaded it with weight," said Ashville Fire Chief Bill Welsh.
Welsh says those are just preliminary findings adding it would be up to a structural engineer to determine the final cause. The windows of the gym had been removed during the renovation and investigators will be looking at if wind from powerful storms that moved through the area early Saturday could have been a factor.
The gym was built with the rest of the original portion of Teays Valley High School in 1962. Welsh says a portion of the roof was damaged by a tornado in 1964.
Construction workers were not present at the time of the collapse. A search dog was brought in from Franklin County to make sure no one was in the area at the time of the collapse.
Welsh said the building would be closed until at least Monday.
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