Snow and ice accumulating on roofs from the barrage of storms has resulted in more than 80 reports of collapsed or damaged buildings since Feb. 9, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to businesses.
Rob Norris, owner of Rockland's Piano Mill, is trying to restore his business after large portions of the store's roof caved in last Tuesday.
"It's gone, it's a total loss," Norris said. "The building has to come down."
The company has relocated seven doors down in Rockland. "We want everybody to know we're not out of business," Norris said. "We are working very hard to get the doors open as soon as possible."
An engineer for his insurance company determined snow had drifted to one side of the roof, creating an unbalanced load that caused it to collapse, according to Norris.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency fielded reports of eight collapsed or partially collapsed buildings — or buildings damaged or at risk for collapse — from 7 p.m. Tuesday to 11 a.m. yesterday alone, according to spokesman Chris Besse. In Waltham, police and fire departments responded to Artisan Industries for a report of a natural gas smell to find a buckled ceiling had damaged the gas line.
No building is safe from the incredible stress of the 8 feet of snow that has piled up on roofs.
"I expect we'll hear of a lot more once the weather starts to warm up," said Garrick Goldenberg, a structural engineering professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Repeated snowstorms compact the snow already on roofs, gradually turning it into ice, Goldenberg said. A cubic foot of snow that weighs about 8 pounds becomes a 64-pound cubic foot block of ice.
Most of collapses are occurring in flat-roofed buildings, but even pitched roofs are not safe under such stress. A Big Kmart in Braintree and a Burlington Coat Factory in Revere were evacuated and closed because of roof damage.
Goldenberg said it's not building codes that are inadequate, but maintenance.
"As soon as the snow stops, the best way to deal with it is to remove it immediately," he said.
Contractors have been removing snow and ice from the roofs of Simon Malls. "There has been no damage to the malls," New England vice president Brian Nelson said. "We are being proactive."
Herald wire services were used in this report.
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