Did Rainy Weather Cause A Town Home Roof To Collapse?
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HIGHLAND PARK (CBSDFW.COM) - Some Highland Park homeowners displaced following a late night roof collapse are being allowed back in. A structural engineer on site has determined that most of the building is safe. Owners in three heavily damaged units, however, are looking for new places to live until repairs can be made.
"I heard all this sound and I thought, 'Oh, we're having a hail storm'," says David Bass.
In fact, the first frantic 911 call reported a possible explosion. Bass wanted to blame the weather. Ultimately, it was neither.
"I came back in, everything started falling in. I looked over and I saw big pieces of sheet rock starting to come down."
Bass was fortunate that he wasn't injured. But, concerns about the safety of the rest of the building displaced all 19 families for most of the day.
Structural and forensic engineer Jerry Kunkel has been called in to figure out why the roof collapsed. He says North Texas' extended stretch of rainy weather could have played a role.
"Wood reacts very slowly to overload conditions and it would act very slowly in response to getting wet," says Kunkel.
Residents at the town home complex called The Savoy had reported leaks recently. A contractor was working on roof repairs at the complex. But, no one was working on the part of the building that collapsed.
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