Heavy snow on roofs brings warning; cattle and school buses already victims

ALBANY, Minn -- At the start of Christmas break, the Albany school district put its buses away for safe keeping.

They would have been better off outside.

On Christmas day the bus garage roof collapsed under the weight of several inches of new wet, heavy snow. "We had 17 buses inside, seven of them are under the collapsed area," said Scott Theilman, Superintendent of Albany Area Schools.

In addition to the seven damaged buses, three school vans sit under collapsed rafters and corrugated steel roofing.

Tuesday private contractors used a crane to scoop up pieces of collapsed roof as well as parts of the structure left standing.

The task is grimmer in the Southwestern Minnesota community of Adrian, where a large barn collapsed Christmas day killing 50 head of feeder cattle.

"The roof was just flat on the ground. Almost all the ones that were still alive we had to put down," mostly because of back injuries, says Jeff Bullerman, who owns the farm. He says 600 head of cattle were in the barn when the roof collapsed.

Bullerman says it's the second barn he's lost to heavy snow in the last two years. He places the combined value of the two barns at more than $500,000. "It's one thing to go through this once, but to have this twice in two years is a little overwhelming," he said Tuesday afternoon.

A third barn owned by Bullerman is now being inspected to make sure it too is not in danger of collapsing.

Concerns about heavy snow on farm buildings prompted University of Minnesota Extension to issue a warning on Tuesday.

"With little warming expected the next few weeks that will provide little opportunity for existing ice and snow to melt or slide off, producers should monitor the snow load situation on their agricultural buildings and take appropriate action," said agriculture engineers Larry Jacobson and Kevin Janni, in a joint advisory.

Click here for further advice from Jacobson and Janni.

As curious residents stopped by to watch the roof removal in Albany, the school district waited for guidance from its insurance company as to whether the bus garage, built in the mid-1970s, will be torn down or repaired.

"I'm just kind of glad it happened on school break, rather than in school because that could have been a big mess," said Carol Bock, whose children attend Albany public schools.

With its own spare buses, and several others offered from other school districts, Albany expects to be at full strength when school resumes next Monday.

But across Minnesota burdened roofs will linger like a Christmas hangover.

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