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    Annoyed Alfred
February 9, 2010

New storm

Manchin urges roof checks; some parts of state brace for another foot or more of snow

By P.J. Dickersheid

CHARLESTON — As parts of West Virginia braced Tuesday for a foot or more of additional snow, Gov. Joe Manchin ordered the inspection of all schools and other public buildings where roofs may be in danger of collapsing.

Officials were working to avoid a repeat of the winter of 1998 when roof cave-ins were blamed for at least three deaths, said Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Jimmy Gianato. Authorities are focusing on buildings in the Eastern Panhandle, which received up to 3 feet of snow over the weekend and could receive another 16 inches by today.

So far, collapses have been limited to a handful of porch roofs and awnings.

Manchin said he’s concerned about the risk of collapse from heavy snow on flat roofs like those at supermarkets and schools, which may not have been built to withstand so much weight.

“Every business person and public building should know what their critical limits are,” Manchin said.

In Jefferson County, workers were kept out of the local Red Cross and the Jefferson County Health Department because the roofs had started to buckle. No roof collapses were reported, but many residents were trying to remove the snow from their roofs, said Jennifer Maggio, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County emergency management center.

The Red Cross and volunteers scrambled to relocate a shelter they had planned to open at the flat-roofed Jefferson High School, shifting supplies and staff to Covenant Baptist Church in Shepherdstown.

In Mineral County, officials were keeping an eye on a Walmart store in Keyser after a “deflection” was noticed in the store’s roof, said Mineral County emergency management director Marc Bashoor.

Engineering tests showed the roof “is doing what it’s designed to do” — hold 40 pounds per cubic foot.

As of late Tuesday morning, the snow weighed about 15 pounds per cubic foot, but officials planned to monitor the roof hourly, he said.

The weight of accumulated snow varies from place to place, depending not only on the volume, but also on whether it melted and refroze, Bashoor said.

“Every structure is going to be different in capacity,” he said.

Schools across the state were closed on Tuesday and many in the Eastern Panhandle had already been canceled through today.

Allegheny Power crews were working to restore service to about 14,600 customers who lost power over the weekend.

In Wheeling, where quarter-sized snowflakes were falling late Tuesday afternoon, Ohio County authorities were mainly concerned about some 700 households that remained without power.

Lou Vargo, deputy director of the Wheeling-Ohio County Emergency Management Agency, said trees throughout the Northern Panhandle were still heavy with snow, and branches were hanging low.

Although Ohio County has shelters, Vargo said most people without power are relying on generators, kerosene heaters and the homes of friends and families to get through the storm.

Earlier in the day, Northern Panhandle authorities warned people to get out before the snowfall to refill food supplies and prescription drugs in case they become stranded.

“Now that the snow’s here, just stay home and be safe,” Vargo said.

Preston County Emergency Management Director Duane Hamilton said that county’s main concern is blowing snow.

“We’re expecting higher winds with this storm, and some areas are real susceptible to being covered in that blowing snow and shut down,” he said.

About 300 National Guard troops have been dispatched to the Eastern Panhandle and to Preston and Monongalia counties. Troops are helping to move food, water, medicine and oxygen, and transport people in emergencies.

For many communities, the biggest challenges are where to put the snow that’s already accumulated and how to move what’s coming.

“We’ve got the men, but we don’t have the equipment,” said Keyser Mayor Sonny Rhodes, whose five city-owned pickup trucks have taken a beating while trying to plow more than 30 inches of heavy, wet snow.

City crews have been dumping much of the plowed snow alongside the railroad tracks with permission from CSX, the mayor said, and as of Tuesday morning, the main arteries through town were clear.

Bashoor said Mineral County’s biggest problem “is the quantity of snow on the streets and the ability to physically move that snow. It’s had a couple nights to thaw and freeze, thaw and freeze, and it’s now big blocks of ice.”

Road crews are dumping what they can into private fields, but equipment remains a problem.

“We just don’t physically have the number of trucks we need,” Bashoor said.

The county has requested equipment from elsewhere, but Bashoor said there’s no telling when that equipment will arrive.

“All 55 counties are making requests,” he said, “and they’re pulling in assets from all over the place.”

— Associated Press writer Vicki Smith contributed to this report from Morgantown.

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