Last Wednesday night, several storms threatened Bowling Green with damage. No damages were greater to Bowling Green than those sustained by the Bowling Green

Regional Airport.

As the storm ripped through the airport, over $2 million worth of damage occurred, but no damage was done to University property.

Mike Hodges, manager of the airport facility, said that all of the damage was localized to the area containing three hangars. These hangars are where the bulk of the planes are stored.

“There were about 20 planes damaged and at least 12 completely totaled,” said Hodges.

Hodges also said that there will be a board meeting on Friday to determine what all was totaled and to get replacement equipment.

As for what has already been done to repair the facilities, 20 people, including 15 volunteers, began by moving the two salvageable planes from the destroyed hangars and collecting debris that was thrown more than a quarter mile into the field near the airport.

“There is actually some debris out there still, but there’s still a lot of standing water, so we have to wait until it dries up to go get it,” Hodges said.

The hangars that were damaged did not contain any University-owned equipment, so the aviation program was not and will not be affected by the damage done.

“The hangars contained planes from about 20 private tenants, who all pay about $3,000 for rent each month, so we [the Wood County Regional Airport Authority] are going to lose that money. We’re also going to lose money from fuel, and on a budget of roughly $500,000, that’s a big chunk.”

The hangars cost around $300,000 to $400,000, and the planes cost around $2 million, all of which is insured either by owner’s insurance or property insurance, Hodges said.

Since there was no damage to anything owned by the University, no student flight hours were canceled.

Teri Sharp, the University’s Media Relations Director, confirmed that nothing happened to the aviation program.

“There is a definite difference between our program and the Bowling Green Regional Airport. BGSU owns the land, and the airport authority leases the land to the airport,” said Sharp.

Sheila George is a flight instructor in the University aviation program. George reported for work the morning after the storm at 7:30 a.m. and saw the damage at its worst.

“The first thing we did was to check the runway to make sure it was clean. Our schedules were delayed about a half an hour,” George said.

George said that she was not worried about the damage that occurred, except for an airplane that was just finished being refurbished.

“The first thing I thought about was the T-33 airplane we just finished working on,” she said.

Brandon Elliott, a subcontractor for the insurance company, was busy yesterday deconstructing a totaled plane to ship back to the insurance company.

“All of the planes left here are totaled. Our job is to take them all apart and send them to the company, so they can see what’s still usable,” Elliott said.

It will be three years in July since the last storm caused damage to the airport. The National Weather Service clocked winds at 102 miles per hour, which ripped the roofs off of the hangars. There was no official measurement for the winds that caused all of the damage last week because the measurers have been moved to a different area. While last week’s winds were very localized, the damage that was done this time was much worse than what occurred three years ago.

Airport manager Hodges recalls how he first found out about the damage that happened last week.

“The first I had heard what had happened was when the city garage told me that some damage occurred, but they didn’t know how much. The police were called as well, but the bulk of the officers were responding to calls around the rest of the city. One of my students drove by around midnight and saw the damage and called me,” said Hodges.

“What we think happened was that a spot tornado touched down around this area and caused all of this, and it probably happened in a millisecond.”