Daycare Roof Collapses in Storm, Kids Saved
Caretakers at a Delco daycare may have saved kids’ lives in Thursday’s freak storm
Doug Shimell
If it wasn't for some resourceful employees, children at a local daycare would have been seriously injured in Thursday's storm.
The quick thinking of caretakers at a Delaware County daycare may have saved childrens’ lives in Thursday’s freak storm.
When the power went out in Today’s Child Learning Center in Clifton Heights, employee Devon Cusson moved the pre-Kindergarten children away from the cubbies.
Only moments later the roof under which the children just were blew off, with tiles and debris crashing into the room.
“Then the windows started shaking – we were all sitting down reading a book. The ceiling tiles on the roof all fell through and then went flying off,” Cusson said.
As the storm, which hit Delaware County the hardest, tore through the daycare center, employees like Maria Zangare moved the kids to a safe part of the building. Zangare watched her own car get crushed by the debris outside.
“The teachers were trying to scream over them singing songs,” Zangare recounted. I’m sitting there and telling everybody to calm down, just keeping my composure because I was a little scared, too.”
Parents like Kelly Manuel rushed to the daycare to make sure her children were safe, and thanks to the workers there, they were.
“Their first thing was to get all those kids safe. They didn’t think about themselves,” Manuel said. “I’m indebted to that center. I owe everything to them!”
Posted Friday, Jun 25, 2010 - 9:36 PM EST
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