“Like Something Exploded” – Gym Roof Collapses During Storm

5th grader Chloe Brewer describes the moment her North Carolina school's roof collapsed during a violent storm, sending her and two others to the hospital.

January 15, 2020

NBC News,

SAMSON COUNTY, N.C. (NBC News) — A camera inside the gymnasium at North Carolina’s Union Intermediate School captured the moment the roof collapsed Monday, forcing students to run to safety.

The video, released Tuesday by Sampson County Schools, shows students playing before running away as the roof falls in, crumpling a stage and taking down part of a wall.

Chloe Brewer, a fifth-grader, is one of the 21 students who were in the gym at the time. She and two other students were injured when the roof and wall came down.

“It was our PE day,” Chloe said. “We were playing basketball, and it just sounded like something exploded in there.”

Chloe says she was standing to the left of the gym when chaos erupted.

“I just turned around and was looking at the stage, and it just collapsed,” she said. “And then we started running, and something hit me from behind, and I fell down. And then the glass started breaking.”