Wind gusts from Thursday’s storm knocked down branches and several trees around the city, including one that landed on a preschool playground in Grant Park.
The enormous tree’s root ball ripped up chunks of brick and concrete sidewalk. On its way down, it snapped another tree in half, damaging the roof of a home next door and crushing much of the playground’s equipment. Thankfully, no children were outside when the incident occurred.
”It’s such a blessing that it happened at naptime while the kids were all tucked into their cots asleep,” said Candace Dupree, the executive director of the Grant Park Cooperative Preschool (GPCP).
Credit: Drew Kann
Credit: Drew Kann
GPCP leases the playground from St. Paul United Methodist Church, located about a block away, and the preschool itself is tucked into the church’s first floor. Dupree said the school, the church and the homeowner next door are working with their insurance companies to determine whose responsibility it is to remove the hulking tree, but said she hopes to have it removed this weekend so the playground can reopen next week in some capacity.
”We’ll get a nice, fresh layer of mulch,” Dupree said. “We’re just trying to make lemonade out of this situation.”
Credit: Drew Kann
Credit: Drew Kann
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