WILLMAR -- Snowfall caused the roof of a 50-by-174-foot warehouse to collapse at Perkins Lumber in Willmar around 3:30 P.M. Monday afternoon.
According to Dan Anderson, vice president of Perkins Lumber, Monday's new snowfall combined with the nearly foot of ice already on the roof from prior ice storms caused the collapse.
"It accumulated to the point where the trusses couldn't take it anymore," Anderson said.
Anderson and his staff noticed eight broken trusses in the warehouse roof Monday morning. Staff was able to remove vehicles from the warehouse but was not able to remove inventory before the roof finally gave way around 3:30 p.m.
Several crew members were standing near the warehouse when the roof collapsed, but no injuries were reported.
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"It dropped straight down," Anderson said.
Upon inspection of the collapsed building, it was determined that much of the inventory left inside the building is salvageable. Snow has since been removed from the remaining buildings at Perkins Lumber.
