Severe Storm Destroys Roof of Holmesburg Boys Club

PHILADELPHIA, PA (WTXF) - Many neighborhoods are trying to pick up the pieces after severe storms ripped through the area.

Those strong winds tore parts of the roof right off at this boys club in Holmesburg that they just spent years fundraising to put up.

Fox 29's Chris O'Connell reported live outside that building in Holmesburg Tuesday night where he met a lot of disappointed families.

Footage shows thousands of dollars' worth of damage at the Holmesburg Boys Club.

A piece of roof, the size of a half a football field was torn of the building leaving kids without a club, and volunteers scrambling make repairs.

On most nights kids would be playing hockey in the Holmesburg Boys Club, but not tonight.

"It's kind of like home to us. Now to see it like this? It stinks," Chris Mahur said.

Instead of coaching, parent volunteers spent the night cleaning. A nasty afternoon storm brought heavy winds that ripped a layer of rubber roofing right from the building.

"The wind made such a noise I've ever heard before" Like a swoosh noise and we saw trash cans fly," Marilyn Montoni said.

From SKYFOX you can see how winds peeled away the roofing from club on the 7700 block of Ditman Street.

Rain came pouring in flooding the hockey floor and shutting the club down until further notice.

"Your heart just stops. It devastating all the time that people put into here. It's all volunteer work no one gets paid here," MIke Hanratty said. "What am I going to do with all the kids that I have in here? All my volunteers that help me out to do what I got to do here. It's like starting all over again"

The roof was barely a year old but took years to raise the money to buy it.

The damage couldn't come at a worse time. The club is now scrambling to make temporary repairs before a scheduled tournament here this weekend.

Meanwhile, roofing contractors came in late tonight to start what will be a long and expensive repair. A repair we're told insurance won't cover.

"Obviously we're going to need a lot of help to get back up and running because we're a nonprofit," Club Vice President Joe Zawatwicz said.

That roofing contractor gave us some bad news. He tells us the entire roof now has to be replaced along with the insulation.

The price tag at the very minimum will be $50,000. The club has started a fundraiser page to help with repair costs.

To help the boys club, please visit their GoFundMe page.