Irma’s winds rip roof from SC town hall

Winds from Tropical Storm Irma peeled the roof off a town hall in Aiken County on Monday.

Wagener town employees were scrambling to move items inside the roof-less town hall Monday afternoon, Mayor Michael Miller told The State newspaper.

“We got all the papers and everything we could,” Miller said. “I just hope the rain stops. We can't cover it.”

No injuries were reported, and the town’s offices were closed Monday, Miller said. Wagener has a population of just over 800, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and is not far from the Lexington County line.

Miller said he had just canceled a Monday night Town Council meeting when winds ripped the metal roof off the downtown building just after 3 p.m. It’s now on the roof of the town’s museum, which also is damaged.

“There's not enough tarps in Wagener to cover it,” Miller said, as water poured into the town hall.

Irma’s winds toppled trees and power lines across the Central Savannah River Area, including Aiken and Barnwell counties. By early Monday afternoon, crews in Barnwell County had cleared 30 to 50 trees that were blocking roadways, some of them tangled with power lines, according to Emergency Management director Roger Riley.

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Irma’s winds rip roof from SC town hall."