VIDEO: Tornado rips roof from Ottawa church

OTTAWA, Kan. (KCTV) - The lead pastor at Transformation Church is thanking God no one was in the building Monday night as an EF-2 tornado blew through the area.

One of the church’s security cameras captured the moment a portion of the roof was torn off.

“We had a church full of people here Sunday night and so it could have been so much worse,” said Gregg Hall, the lead pastor. “We were here Sunday night at the exact same time that the tornado hit. That was my first thought was Lord, I am so grateful that it was tonight, no one was in the building, and that no one was hurt.”

Portions of the roof could be seen on the other side of a field. Some of a playset is tangled in a fence. Hall doesn’t know where other sections ended up. He walked us through the church building Tuesday afternoon, showing much of the damage was in the kids’ area of the building.

“This is the roof of the nursery, or what’s left of it,” said Hall. “It doesn’t much look like a place where we would want babies right now.”

Hall says the community of Ottawa and Franklin County, particularly the church community, is amazing. Within an hour of the storms hitting the area, several pastors began reaching out, offering help.

“It’s been an incredible 20-something hours since it happened,” said Hall.

He does say they will have service next Sunday. While the location is pending, the sermon is not.

“We are going to celebrate the goodness of God. We have so many things to be thankful for,” said Hall. “The building is really bad, but the church is standing strong. This weekend we’re going to celebrate that God is with us in the midst of the trial. We’re going to look for opportunities, also, to even serve the community and help other people get back on their feet. Because we’re not the only ones going through it.”