Liberty Street Garage Roof Collapses

A garage roof collapsed under the snow Thursday before noon, but no one was injured in the Liberty Street collapse.

The garage was being used for storage, said owner Calixto Jimenez.

“This is a very bad winter. You clear the snow, and clear the snow. And then it snows again. There’s no rain to wash it away. There’s no rain, no sun, nothing to take the snow away,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez said he can’t start repairing the damage until the city issues its report and his insurance company checks the one-story garage.

“The garage is classic. It’s old construction. The timbers were not supported properly to begin with,” said Bill Weber, deputy fire marshal. “The weight of the snow was too much. We haven’t had any sun or rain to offer any help.”

Weber predicted that as dangerous as the heavy snow is on roofs, it will become worse when the snow melts. He said with more snow predicted to fall on Saturday, the snow packed on roofs will get heavier.

“There’s going to be a pool on those flat roofs once the melting starts. People better get up there and clear their drains. The water will find a way inside the buildings,” Weber said. “You may have to get up on a roof and clear the drain two or three times to get all that water off. If you don’t, that’s when we’ll see the serious damage.”