Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — About 12 hours after Gov. Jim Justice held a tree lighting ceremony, the West Virginia Christmas tree fell over early Thursday morning at the state Capitol.
Several of the large ornaments on the tree were smashed on impact.
There is no official word yet on what caused the 54-foot Norway spruce from Pocahontas County to topple, but wind gusts up to about 30 mph were reported in Charleston Thursday morning by the National Weather Service in Charleston.
School closing, delays
Several area school districts are delaying their starts Thursday as windy, cold conditions and sporadic power outages make travel difficult in some rural areas.
