County Roofs Buckle Under Pressure
 The Commercial Street apartment complex was condemned because it is structurally unsound. The second story wall can be seen bowing out in this image. |
A rash of roof collapses is breaking out throughout the county even after the state advised residents to clear the snow off.
County buildings stood their ground for most of the winter but recently have been buckling under the pressure. Still, no injuries have been reported.
A caved-in roof displaced residents of a Commercial Street apartment Saturday in one of the worse collapses in the county.
According to Adams Police, the roof of an apartment building at 137 Commercial St. caved in late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The building has been condemned for being structurally unsound. No injuries were reported but the residents living on the first floor were forced to find alternative housing.
The county lost another farm last week in Hancock when a barn on Route 43 operated by the Quimby and Blair families collapsed. The family was forced to send about 40 head of cattle to Egermont for auction. The barn is on a 180-acre farm owned by Robert Blair had been in the family for generations.
Blair told local media that the family will no longer operate the farm. The cows all escaped unharmed.
  The latest storm this week caused a barn on East Road in Clarksburg to collapse. The structure was being used for storage. Right, a snowblower is used to rid Nassif's of snow in North Adams on Wednesday. |
An abandoned old wood-frame building behind the Berkshire Cooperative Market on Bridge Street in Great Barrington collapsed Sunday afternoon.The collapse was reported at about 1:30 p.m.
The roof of an old barn in Clarksburg also fell in sometime between Monday night and Tuesday after the latest storm dropped 5 to 8 inches of snow.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said more than 150 structures across the state have been reported as damaged by heavy snow, including six on Friday. The Berkshires seemed to have avoided collapses until last week.
