WASHINGTON 鈥� Washington鈥檚 National Cathedral will remain closed to visitors and worshippers through Saturday as crews continue to check damage from Friday鈥檚 high winds.
Kevin Eckstrom, a spokesman for the cathedral, said Friday鈥檚 weather conditions caused some minor wind damage, and that several pieces of scaffolding became dislodged from the central tower. But engineers, who were able to get outside to inspect the damage from Friday鈥檚 stormy weather, sad the structural integrity of the building remains solid.
The National Cathedral and its grounds were closed Friday morning due to concerns about the scaffolding; winds were gusting up to 65 mph. The scaffolding has been in place as part of the repair work that was required as a result of the earthquake in 2011.
Eckstrom said the grounds were closed out of an abundance of caution. Pointing up to the scaffolding on the central tower, he said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 30 stories up in the air, and if something were to come loose from the wind 鈥� we don鈥檛 want it hitting anybody on the ground.鈥�
He said there鈥檚 still $22 million in work to be done to repair all the damage from the earthquake.
Watching the scaffolding sway ever so gently during Friday鈥檚 wind storm, Eckstrom said, 鈥淭he Holy Spirit in the Bible is always in the form of wind 鈥� so maybe God鈥檚 trying to tell us something. You never know.鈥�
