Fort Washington Elementary Students Back At School First Time Since September Tornado

UPPER DUBLIN, PA — Students returned to Fort Washington Elementary School on Wednesday after the building was closed for months due to remediation work relating to tornado damage.

The elementary school was shuttered after it sustained extensive damage due to a strong tornado that came through the region in early September created by Hurricane Ida.

The first day of the school year — Sept. 1 — was also the very same day that the tornado touched down in Upper Dublin and surrounding communities causing extensive wind and water damage.

Deanna Durante from NBC 10 Philadelphia visited the school Wednesday as students made their way back into their classrooms.

One student who was interviewed on the television news broadcast said Wednesday marked the second day only this school year that she was physically inside a classroom.

On Tuesday, the district put out a community update in which it said school officials were excited to be able to once again open the school to students in kindergarten, as well as first, fourth and fifth grades, along with those enrolled int the autism support program.

"We would like to thank everyone who had a hand in making the reopening of FWES a reality!" the district wrote in its bulletin. "Kudos to our UDSD staff, our professional team of contractors, and Upper Dublin Township for their roles in helping us reopen FWES."

The district said some recovery work still needs to be completed in the areas of the elementary school that sustained the most damage, which are the areas that previously housed the first, second and fifth grades.

"Those areas remain in recovery mode, and we will share updates via these communications as we progress toward fully recovering those spaces," the district wrote.

Upper Dublin Township was one of the communities in Montgomery County that was hit hardest by Hurricane Ida. In addition to the damage at Fort Washington Elementary School, there was also damage to the high school and the township's municipal government complex.