High winds peeled the roof from the gymnasium at West Pines Elementary School and toppled trees, power poles, billboards and barns in a widespread area of Greeneville and Greene County on Wednesday.

A high wind advisory remains in effect until 6 p.m. today, according to the National Weather Service office in Morristown.

"West winds will range from 20- to 30-mph with gusts to 40-mph. The higher gusts will occur above 3,000 feet and will increase in speed around mid-day through mid-afternoon," the weather service said.

At one point on Wednesday afternoon, police and Greeneville Light & Power System employees were being overwhelmed by the high volume of wind damage and power outage reports that streamed in to Greene County 911 and law-enforcement agencies.

Chuck Bowlin, Greeneville Light & Power's operations manger, said that at one point, 5,000 to 6,000 customers were without power.

"It seemed to hit all at once about mid-morning and it was chaos after that," Bowlin said.

He noted that GL&PS was able to quickly reduce the number of affected customers to about 1,200. But he said that it took repair crews until about 4:30 a.m. today to fully restore power to all customers.

"The last crews went home about 5 a.m. today," he said.

Bowlin said Wednesday's wind damage was strange because it was spread across all parts of the county except the areas immediately adjacent to the southern Greene County mountains, which normally see the most wind damage.

West Pines Elementary Principal Tim Harrison said he noticed debris outside the school about 11:15 a.m. but didn't immediately realize it was from the roof of the gymnasium. But a short time later, he said, a teacher informed him that the roof of the gymnasium had been damaged.

Harrison stressed that only the gymnasium roof had been damaged and that the rest of the school was undamaged.

No one was in the gymnasium at the time the damage took place.

Harrison said two basketball games have been canceled pending repairs and that the schools basketball teams will be practicing in the fellowship hall and Union Temple Baptist Church pending completion of roof repairs.

Director of Schools Dr. Joe Parkins said the gymnasium was built in the early 1980s.

He noted that David Myers, the county school system's maintenance director had contacted the school system's insurance carrier on Wednesday and had been given permission to hire a contractor to repair the roof.

Parkins said employees of Morristown Roofing are expected to begin roof repairs today if the winds are not too strong. He estimated that repairs could be completed in "three or four days" if good weather prevails.

Greeneville Parks & Recreation Director Butch Patterson said "Christmas In The Park" at Hardin Park had to be closed Wednesday night due to wind damage.

"The wind obviously knocked some displays over, and the display in the pond was blown from the middle of the pond all the way onto the bank," Patterson said.

"But the worst thing was a power pole was snapped that feeds power to the swimming pool area of the park and we had no lights in that area."

Patterson said, "Christmas In The Park" will reopen tonight, but some of the lights may not be working, depending upon how much repair and clean-up can be done today.

The only other damage to city park property that he was aware of this morning was a power pole that had been snapped at EastView Field, behind Eastview Elementary School.

Other locations where wind damage was reported included:

* A two-story barn leveled at 66 Hutton Road in the Orebank community;

* Sycamore Street where fallen power lines reportedly had set trees ablaze;

* East Vann Road near Hal Henard Elementary School where fallen power lines were blocking the roadway. The power lines were removed from East Vann Road about 12:50 p.m. Wednesday and the road was reopened, according to police;

* East Andrew Johnson Highway near Stan's Bar-B-Q where a large billboard was toppled into a grassy area;

* North Main Street near the Greeneville Water Commission building where high winds toppled a large billboard.

* Asheville Highway near Gary's Paint and Body Shop, where a large tree had fallen across the highway, bringing down power lines;

* Link Hills Country Club off East Allens Bridge Road, where trees had toppled onto the golf course and had blocked East Allens Bridge Road;

* The Greeneville Water Department headquarters, on North Main Street, where a billboard was blown down;

* Forest Street in Greeneville, where a power line was reported to be down;

* the 2000 block of Whirlwind Road, where a tree was reported to have fallen across the roadway;

* Parton Loop, where a free-standing carport was blown into the side of a house;

* Hutton Road off Warrensburg Road, where high winds collapsed a large, two-story barn on Wednesday afternoon.

Owner Tonya Collins said she discovered that high winds had collapsed the barn when she returned home about 2 p.m. Wednesday. She also noted that several large cedar trees along Warrensburg Road were uprooted.

* Jones Bridge Road at its intersection with Jim Fox Road where a tree was reported to have fallen into the roadway; and

* the 3000 block of the 107 Cutoff, where a tree branch fell and struck a passing car, breaking its windshield. No injuries were reported.

A report filed by Sheriff's Lt. Jakie Christy at 11:35 a.m. Wednesday said Ross Jennings, 65, of Greystone Road was driving his Ford F-150 pickup in the 3000 block of the 107 Cutoff when high winds blew a large tree branch onto the vehicle.

Jennings escaped injury, but the truck's headlights, hood, windshield and roof sustained "heavy damage," according to the report.

Power also was reported out along Tusculum Boulevard at noon Wednesday.

Greeneville Police Chief Terry Cannon was heard to say by radio about 12:30 p.m. that traffic cones being used by police to block roads were being blown away by gusting winds. "We can't get anything to stay in the road," Cannon was heard to say.

Greeneville Director of Schools Dr. Lyle Ailshie said just before 1 p.m. Wednesday that power was out at EastView and Hal Henard elementary schools and at Greeneville Middle School.

Newspaper carriers for The Greeneville Sun also experienced delays in delivery of the Wednesday edition in some areas due to downed trees.