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A mall in Minnesota was closed after a massive pileup of snow on its roof caused the ceiling to collapse just before opening.
Employees at stores and restaurants at the Miller Hill Mall in Duluth were just arriving for work at 9.00am on Tuesday when they heard a loud crashing sound coming from inside the building.
Inside the building, near an Applebee’s restaurant and a Barnes and Noble bookstore, snow came crashing through the ceiling as the roof collapsed.
Videos posted by frightened workers began circulating, showing mountains of snow and a large hole into the ceiling.
Workers at the Miller Hill Mall managed to take photos of roof collapse before they were evacuated (Picture: Charlene McKeever Shimmin/Facebook)
Duluth Fire Department quickly evacuated the mall, and everyone inside was accounted for. The collapse happened just before opening time of 10.00am, meaning no shoppers were inside at the time.
Aerial footage taken by drone and helicopters show the mall’s roof covered with deep snow. Duluth has seen over 116 inches of snowfall this season, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) – making it the city’s 9th snowiest winter on record.
‘We’re making some guesses that it was possibly due to snow load,’ Duluth Fire Chief Shawn Krizaj told CBS Minnesota at the scene.
Krizaj said firefighters were already at the mall, attempting to clear some of the excess snow off the roof just before the cave-in. ‘They heard some popping sounds, so they immediately got off the roof. They were evaluating the building when it collapsed.’
The City of Duluth said that workers from Public Works and Utilities were also on site at the mall responding to reports of a gas leak. The leak was quickly fixed, but the heat and gas remain cut off to the property.
They also confirmed that city structural engineers are currently assessing the building and monitoring for ‘secondary collapses.’ The city is asking all residents to stay away from the building until further notice.
Meanwhile, the region is expecting another 10 inches of snow as another winter storm makes its way across the region, the NWS in Duluth said on Wednesday.
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The Duluth, Minnesota mall was quickly evacuated after the collapse.
