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PEPPER PIKE, Ohio – Ursuline College will reopen on Tuesday after severe storms tore through Pepper Pike over the weekend.

Sister Diana Stano, President of Ursuline College, was sleeping when she received word of the extensive damage on campus.

“I was devastated. I was asleep, and sometime after 3 a.m. I heard this loud noise, it felt like lightning and that. All of the electricity in the house I live in here on campus went out. So all of a sudden, probably closer to 4 a.m., I got a phone call saying we lost a wall in the gym.”

The strong winds caused an external wall of the O’Brien Athletic Center to collapse. A portion of the roof was also destroyed.

Flying debris also caused extensive damage to several other buildings including the Dauby Science Center and the Ralph M. Besse Library. A number of trees were uprooted or destroyed.

Sister Stano said several kids participated in an overnight camp-out in the gym as part of a disability camp Thursday night. She is thankful no one was on campus Friday night and Saturday morning.

“The blessing in all of this is that nobody was injured, nobody was hurt. It was at a time when nobody was on campus,” said Sister Stano.

University officials and repair crews will meet to assess the damage and decide how to move forward.

  • Ursuline College Damage (7/20)
  • Ursuline College Damage (7/20)
  • Ursuline College Damage (7/20)
  • Ursuline College Damage (7/20)