MT ULLA — A tornado on Thursday caused significant damage to Mt. Ulla Elementary School, causing the school to close for students and staff on Friday. The winds also caused a tree to fall on a house about a mile away from the school, displacing two residents.

The damage to the school began at the gym, where strong winds ripped the roof off of the building and scattered pieces of it across the property and beyond. Debris could still be seen on the property, on power lines and on trees in the woods across the road through Friday morning.

The National Weather Service confirmed that a EF1 tornado, measured at a peak wind of 100 mph, touched down just off of N.C. Highway 801 in Mt. Ulla at approximately 7:52 p.m. on Thursday. It first hit a house, and then moved northeast across the intersection of Back Creek Road and N.C. Highway 801 before hitting the school.

Michelle Shue, communications director for the Rowan-Salisbury School System, said that restoring the damage to the power lines was the system’s main worry on Friday morning, as the downed lines posed the largest danger.

A nine and under baseball team was practicing in the gym at the time the roof came off. Shue said that the players and coaches hunkered down in a safe space in the building before calling 911 and notifying emergency responders about the damage as soon as it was possible.

“I’m just thankful everybody is okay,” said Ryan Shelton, the head coach of the Mt. Ulla 9U baseball team, who confirmed that no one was injured in the incident.

The team was practicing in the gym because they were unable to use the field due to the rain. Much of the debris that came from the building landed on and severely damaged the baseball field.

A house just down the street from the school in the 15000 block of N.C. Highway 801 was also damaged by the storm when a tree was knocked over by the winds onto the right side of the building, confirmed a spokesperson for the Red Cross.

The home also had an attached garage on the left side of the building torn off of the building by the winds and the wellhouse on the property was pulled out of the ground by the winds and blown away, said the spokesperson.

The two residents in the house were displaced and are being assisted by the Red Cross. Neither were injured.

“At the initial touch down, the tornado uplifted a roof deck and loss significant roof covering material. At the same location, a chimney collapsed, while garage doors collapsed inward. The structure was displaced off of its foundation,” states the report about the damage to the home.

After hitting the school, the tornado then crossed N.C. Highway 801 and Unberger Road before lifting, according to the report. The tornado pulled sheet metal from the school onto nearby properties in its path.

Shue said that the school system plans to run on a normal schedule on Monday after crews spent Friday restoring power to the building and cleaning up the campus.