Tornado leaves mark on Century Highschool gymnasium

ULLIN, Ill. (KBSI) – Century Schools #100 were closed on Monday March 31, 2025 after evening storms left damage to the schools building.

Landon Sommer is the Superintendent for the Century School District #100 in Ullin, Illinois.

He says he received a message that the school had taken a hit after storms passed through several parts of Southern Illinois.  

“I initially got a text around 6:30-6:45 that there was some damage to the school. I came up shortly afterwards and found the roof membrane for the gym that had blown off and then came inside to see that the gym floor was pretty soaked from all the water that was leaking through the ceiling at that point” says Sommers.

According to the National Weather Service an EF-1 tornado went through the Alexander/Pulaski County area yesterday causing damage to several areas.

Sommers says a gas line broke causing a gas leak and the school gymnasium was badly damaged. 

“The rest of the building didn’t really find a whole lot of other serious damage” says Sommer. “A little bit of the shingles off on the concession stand building, a little bit of a roof off on a pavilion outside but it was primarily contained to just the high school gym.” 

Sommers says they do plan on school being in session tomorrow, April 1 as custodians have worked to cap off the gas leak and fix anything concerning throughout the day.  

“My hope, since it is contained to just the high school gymnasium is that we’ll be able to resume school tomorrow, pending completion of some of those other things to get us back up and running” says Sommers, “And try not to interrupt the learning process more than we have too.”