PARMA, Ohio — The main sports stadium for the Parma City School District is closed amid damage from last week's storms, the school district announced on social media.
Byers Field will be closed through Aug. 30 amid "structural damage" left in the wake of the storms, which included five tornadoes in the Northeast Ohio region. One tornado traveled from Brook Park to Bedford through Parma, peaking with winds at 103 miles per hour.
"We actually had some bleachers — temporary bleachers — that were picked up and thrown across the field and tore through a fence," Parma Superintendent Charles Smialek told 3News in a Monday interview. "So it was pretty violent over there."
According to Smialek, lights and fencing were damaged and a huge wall on the stadium's southwest side was bent out of place, leaving about 40 rows of bleachers exposed and unsafe. About a dozen home football and soccer games will no longer be player at the venue, including Normandy's season football opener against East Cleveland Shaw on Aug. 23 and Valley Forge's Week 2 matchup with North Ridgeville on Aug. 30.
"Everything that is scheduled is going to happen; it's just a matter of where," Smialek stressed. "We're not taking games away, we're not taking practices away. We've just had to improvise and juggle a little bit in terms of locations."
At this time, Smialek doesn't know how long Byer Field will be closed for or how much repairs will cost. Officials are currently asking upcoming home game opponents if they can play the contests at their fields.