Roof collapses at Kimberling City shopping center during heavy rains
Photo courtesy of Kimberling City Police Department
Kadee Brosseau DeCourley
Heavy rain caused part of a roof to collapse at a Kimberling City shopping center at around 9 a.m. last Wednesday, April 13. The shopping center is located on Highway 13, just north of the Kimberling City bridge over Table Rock Lake.
“As the public works manager, I had to contact my crew to head down with tools to clean up the glass and debris. I then put on my ‘building inspector hat’ and assessed the situation from outside and inside the buildings for further damage and safety issues,” Kimberling City Public Works Manager Randy Reed said.
When Reed arrived at the shopping center on Wednesday morning, Southern Stone County Fire Protection District crews and Kimberling City Police Department officers were on the scene.
“[I inspected] the original roof collapse. I found that due to extreme water on the roof it had blown the ceiling joists apart and collapsed from the center out. After inspecting that building, I moved to the Taco Lady’s building. I found that she had a 15 foot span of ceiling joists that had been sprung from the top plate. Further inspection showed that the top plate had split in two. At that point I instructed everyone that it was closed to the public until inspection by a structural engineer,” Reed said.
Owners of The Taco Lady were inside the building when the collapse happened. However, no one was hurt.
“The only unit I can say for certain that received damage from the collapse was the Taco Lady’s building. The other buildings were in such disrepair I cannot confirm that the damage was caused by the roof collapse,” Reed said.
Reed said it is difficult to know how much water the roof took on, causing it to collapse. However, when water pools on a roof in this manner, the weight can cause collapses like this.
“Water weighs eight pounds per gallon. It is hard to say how many gallons had pooled upon the roof before it collapsed. I won’t say it is common, but it is always possible if water is allowed to pool into a small area,” Reed said.
He said certain kinds of roofs are more susceptible than others to this type of damage.
“Flat roofs without proper repair or plugged drains or scuppers can pool water. This could cause this type of collapse,” Reed explained.
Reed said it is important to maintain proper maintenance on any roof at a home or business and have them inspected regularly.
“[You should] have them inspected by a professional annually to ensure that proper drainage is happening. Maintenance is the easiest way to ensure that a calamity like this won’t happen,” Reed said.
Reed said the quick response of local police officers and firefighters helped take care of the situation.
“I would like to thank SSCFD and KCPD for their fast response and help with this. We as a city responded within minutes to the disaster and had the building assessed immediately,” Reed said.
At the time of printing this newspaper, The Taco Lady was open for business with outdoor seating and limited indoor seating.
Heavy rain caused part of a roof to collapse at a Kimberling City shopping center at around 9 a.m. last Wednesday, April 13. The shopping center is located on Highway 13, just north of the Kimberling City bridge over Table Rock Lake.
“As the public works manager, I had to contact my crew to head down with tools to clean up the glass and debris. I then put on my ‘building inspector hat’ and assessed the situation from outside and inside the buildings for further damage and safety issues,” Kimberling City Public Works Manager Randy Reed said.
When Reed arrived at the shopping center on Wednesday morning, Southern Stone County Fire Protection District crews and Kimberling City Police Department officers were on the scene.
“[I inspected] the original roof collapse. I found that due to extreme water on the roof it had blown the ceiling joists apart and collapsed from the center out. After inspecting that building, I moved to the Taco Lady’s building. I found that she had a 15 foot span of ceiling joists that had been sprung from the top plate. Further inspection showed that the top plate had split in two. At that point I instructed everyone that it was closed to the public until inspection by a structural engineer,” Reed said.
Owners of The Taco Lady were inside the building when the collapse happened. However, no one was hurt.
“The only unit I can say for certain that received damage from the collapse was the Taco Lady’s building. The other buildings were in such disrepair I cannot confirm that the damage was caused by the roof collapse,” Reed said.
Reed said it is difficult to know how much water the roof took on, causing it to collapse. However, when water pools on a roof in this manner, the weight can cause collapses like this.
“Water weighs eight pounds per gallon. It is hard to say how many gallons had pooled upon the roof before it collapsed. I won’t say it is common, but it is always possible if water is allowed to pool into a small area,” Reed said.
He said certain kinds of roofs are more susceptible than others to this type of damage.
“Flat roofs without proper repair or plugged drains or scuppers can pool water. This could cause this type of collapse,” Reed explained.
Reed said it is important to maintain proper maintenance on any roof at a home or business and have them inspected regularly.
“[You should] have them inspected by a professional annually to ensure that proper drainage is happening. Maintenance is the easiest way to ensure that a calamity like this won’t happen,” Reed said.
Reed said the quick response of local police officers and firefighters helped take care of the situation.
“I would like to thank SSCFD and KCPD for their fast response and help with this. We as a city responded within minutes to the disaster and had the building assessed immediately,” Reed said.
At the time of printing this newspaper, The Taco Lady was open for business with outdoor seating and limited indoor seating.