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Despite trees down overnight, Orange Park kindergarten open for business

ORANGE PARK, Fla. – School is in session Friday at Orange Park Kindergarten despite damage sustained from Thursday night’s severe storms.

Two large trees fell on the school’s property on Moody Avenue. One fell in front of the building, damaging a bus. The second landed on a building, puncturing the ceiling of one classroom and leaving water damage and debris.

“We had a flashlight and saw the tree was down,” owner Patty Tauch said. “It was sticking in our roof. The fence is down. It’s a mess.”

Several other classrooms were not damaged, so the owner said they are able to open as clean-up work begins. But the playground will be off limits until everything is cleared.

Tauch said they had just completed repairs after four trees went down during Hurricane Irma, so they will just have to start over again.

“Now we have to have to roof repaired again,” she said. “But it’s more than that -- it’s insulation and trusses and ceilings and soffits. I mean, the whole thing’s going to have to be redone.”