Comets struck hard by tornado
Published 12:02 am Saturday, February 27, 2016
- St. Charles Catholic coaches and volunteers work Wednesday to replace the softball field tarp that was blown off the field by a tornado that struck LaPlace Tuesday. The football, baseball and softball fields all suffered minor damage from the storm. (Lori Lyons/L’OBSERVATEUR)
LAPLACE — St. Charles Catholic baseball coach Wayne Stein should have been preparing for his annual baseball tournament. Instead, he, along with head football coach Frank Monica, softball coach Ty Monica and several volunteers spent Wednesday morning assessing damage to the athletic fields behind the school caused by a series of tornados which struck the LaPlace area Tuesday afternoon.
The St. Charles Catholic football field scoreboard was left twisted by the tornado that tore through LaPlace Tuesday evening. (Lori Lyons/L’OBSERVATEUR)
The softball field and baseball fields took the brunt of the hit. The metal fences surrounding both fields were crumpled. The scoreboards for all three fields were blown askew. A storage shed behind the football team’s Cometplex lost part of a wall, its shards left in a trail towards the field.
The soccer goals that were being stored behind the football field had to be retrieved from the nearby Place Dubourg apartments and a tarp that had been left to cover the dirt infield on the softball field was blown away. The men were struggling to put it back in place on Wednesday.
The school building did not appear to be damaged at all, Stein said.
The rest was mostly cosmetic.
“It’s all just stuff,” Stein said. “It can all be fixed.”
East St. John High School in Reserve was not damaged, nor was Riverside Academy, school officials said. Rebels baseball coach Frank Cazeaux said the high fence between the baseball field and the track was bent a little.
The St. Charles Catholic softball fence and scoreboard were
left destroyed by a tornado that swept through LaPlace Tuesday.
The St. Charles baseball tournament, Stein said, would be moved to Lutcher until today. He had several options; however, as many River Parishes schools called to offer their assistance.
“The heartening thing is everybody has called to offer their fields, whatever we need,” Stein said. “The dads were on the phone first thing (Wednesday) morning asking, ‘When can we get to work.’ We had to tell them to give us a minute. Let the insurance people come in. But they’re ready to come in here and get it done.”
