Heavy snow causing structural damages

Heavy snow that started early Saturday morning and didn't stop until late Sunday caused a whirlwind of plowing and shoveling in Libby as people tried to stay one step ahead of the drifts.

"It's been crazy," said Fire Chief and insurance agent, Tom Wood. "There's five buildings that we know of that collapsed, including the Port Authority property and the old (Mill) plywood plant - the snow load caused the roof to cave in."

The fire department also responded to a porch collapse off Main Street last night along with a big dome quonset hut, which housed numerous cars and motor homes, many of which were smashed - behind Libby Floors & Decors.

Wood said although it's not the 73 buildings that collapsed in 1996-97, it could be the beginning.

"If it rains you can double that," he said. That's what happens - if it's just snow, it's not too bad, but when it becomes a rainstorm, watch out!"

Wood also said it depends on the age of the building and snow load.

"There's a lot of old houses that have seen worse winters than this," he said. "The weather report said by the weekend we could have another foot of snow. That changes things."

Marc McGill, Director of Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency, estimated the snow weighed in at 29 pounds per square foot, which is not a threat to most roofs - at least not yet.

"I took an unoffical estimate to get a feel for where we're at locally," he said. "Twenty-nine pounds is not excessive, but it depends on the way things are built."

Buildings that are up to code should be able to handle 75 pounds of snow per foot, according to information McGill received from building inspector Tom Higgins.

That number has also changed over the years - it used to be 60 pounds.

Tips on properly removing snow from roofs can be found by Googling snow load roof, according to McGill, who sent out a city-wide email to help answer questions on shoveling.

"It's a double-edged sword," said McGill, "you have to be careful on the way you clear your roof. Is there a threat of collapse or am I going to damage my roof?"

The best way is to cut it out in strips - avoid doing one side and then the other as that may cause one side to be much heavier, causing collapse.

McGill pointed out that he isn't an engineer, and common sense should be used.

"If you're leary of it, shovel it," he said. "Be careful because every structure is built different.

"There are so many variables," said McGill. "We can't say we're safe right now. I've heard of three or four structures already collapsing."

McGill recommends dealing with the snow before it gets any heavier.

"It's certainly a lot easier to handle right now because it is relatively light," he added.

The snow also caused a backlog of streets to be plowed for both city and privately owned plowers.

Ward Crushing LCC, a snow removal service in Libby, has had to turn away requests to plow because of an extra busy year.

"This is an insane year," said owner Sydney Ward, "Everytime it snows, I've had to turn down 10 people who call in because I can't take anymore jobs as there aren't enough man-hours."

Most of Ward's crew came in at 3 a.m. Monday to keep up with the plowing and have been working 12-hour days since Sunday.

"They are working so hard to clear it up," she said. "Last night I ran out of places to push snow. There's no place to stockpile it, and everyone's parking lots are so full that we're having to haul it off. I haven't seen that for a really long time."

Because of the snow, all Libby schools were delayed two hours.

According to Libby Schools Superintendent Kirby Maki, the road reports were questionable as to whether busses could safely get through so the decision was made to delay.

"I talk back and forth with bus contractors along with the state and county, who give advice about delaying," he said. "It was still snowing at 6 and 7p.m. and all of our parking lots and bus lanes had a huge amount of snow, so the two hour delay gave the county time to plow the roads."

Maki said the school notifies Time Warner's announcement page for Libby: Channel 10, both Libby radio stations, the Kalispell station and three Spokane TV stations. A phone tree is also instigated to help get the word out.

"We try to let everyone know and then we do the call trees" he said. "Some live past Happy's Inn and other places, and we don't want them traveling on bad roads."

One person not daunted by the weekend snow was Bill Frazey, a board member of Kootenai Winter Sports, the non-profit that runs Turner Mountain.

With no avalanches to worry about, Turner welcomes as much snow that can fall, estimating 14-18 inches fell Sunday.

"The more snow the better," said Frazey, noting even a late plowing of the road didn't deter skiers.

"We had a lot of skiers come up - and the road was in terrible condition - but they still came up." he said. "We had about 150 people on Sunday.