Pop, goes the roof!
Humboldt IGA owner David Doepker said he didn't know exactly what caused the store's roof to blow off during gusting winds on June 27. That day, Environment Canada had issued weather warnings for dozens of communities around the province, saying gusts of up to 90-110 kilometres per hour could be expected.
Doepker figures it was around 10 or 10:30 that morning, and business was as usual with a few people shopping in the store, when he and staff members heard some loud noises.
"We didn't know what it was," Doepker said.
"I liken it to the sound when you peel the lid off a sardine can."
Then, he says, they received a phone call from Crop Insurance - another business in the Geschaft Centre, where the store is located - telling them that part of the store's roof was in the back alley.
"So we went out there and had a look, and it was like Holy Smokes!" said Doepker. "And as we watched over the next half an hour, pieces just kept flying off."
All around the city that morning, residents were phoning the City and the Humboldt Fire Department with reports of fallen trees or branches in the streets. But nothing could match the sight of the debris in the alleyway behind the IGA food store. Pieces of asphalt, black tar paper, and insulation pieces lay scattered about the tarmac and in the pools of water that were accumulating after the heavy rains.
"We're waiting on an assessment for the damage," said Doepker on Thursday,.
"We're not going to open up, it just wouldn't make any sense," he added. "Right now we're kind of exposed, not to the air, but to water if it rains."
On the inside, the store's central aisles are covered with large sheets of plastic to protect the dry goods from further exposure. For the most part, the suspended ceiling is still in place and there are only a few spots where you can see through to the metal frame of the roof.
The store has been reopened now.
