The village inspector said the pressure of mounting snow and perhaps a slow thaw from a bit of daytme sun buckled support beams and crumpled the overhang, crushing cars as it collapsed. I get gas here all the time. I m hoping nobody got hurt, said Bernie Center, who lives nearby.
The woman in one of the trapped cars, a black SUV, said she heard cracking just before a beam gave way, crashing through her back windshield. She said she escaped through her passenger door.
No one was injured.
The canopy will have to be disassembled and removed in order to free the cars. The gas station is not open for business in the wake of the collapse.
Victor Moore said he heard cracking in his garage and thought perhaps someone had gotten inside, but found it had partially caved in. His first thought was to get his car out, but halfway through the rest of the garage collapsed, trapping him inside.
Moore called a tow truck, which gave him an estimate for 30 to 40 minutes, but he said two hours passed with no response. Eventually, he called the fire department, who helped him climb out of a window.
A foot of light, fluffy snow weighs about 4 pounds per square foot. On a regular roof that's about 6,240 pounds of weight on the roof. It's like putting a pickup truck on your roof.