Tornado causes minor damage to Madera County elementary school

Staff at Berenda Elementary School in unincorporated Madera County cleared branches and debris from the campus Sunday, after a tornado touched down there on Friday afternoon, according to ABC7.

A portable classroom and a fence were damaged, but no students or staff were injured.

School had already been dismissed for the day, but students in an after-school program were on the campus when the tornado hit. They were taken to the cafeteria and their parents notified to pick them up.

Sisters Emely and Eilyn Soto were coloring in the cafeteria when the tornado touched down. They spoke to a ABC7 reporter about their experience.

“I just heard everyone screaming and branches and trees just falling down,” said Emely, a fourth grader at the school. “The teachers tried to close the door and they couldn’t. They finally did and grabbed everyone to go on the floor.”