MANITOULIN—The night of February 14 and 15 was disastrous for structures of all kinds across Manitoulin, as The Expositor has learned that multiple buildings collapsed under heavy ice and snow buildup and fierce winds, from southeast Manitoulin to the West End.
This season’s ice and snow accumulation proved too great for a storage structure at Twin Peaks Bed and Breakfast near Mindemoya, which collapsed that night under howling winds.
“It’s just very unfortunate. We were definitely in shock on Friday morning when we awoke,” said Cheryl Cashman, one of the owners of Twin Peaks Bed and Breakfast.
There were 10 items within the canvas-topped structure that belonged to others who were renting storage space, along with some of the owners’ personal items.
“My car was in there, too,” said Ms. Cashman. “I had just gotten it all cleaned before storing it for the winter.”
Co-owner Ron Perreault said he could not have predicted what had happened.
“It was just one of those isolated circumstances with the weather conditions,” he said. “It’s just been a bad year with lots of ice and snow. Our neighbour said it’s the worst they’ve seen in 30 years.”
It was the structural frame of the canvas-roof building that collapsed under the weight of the ice and snow. The canvas stayed intact, leaving much of the weight still resting atop the remaining structure.
“We tried to go out and take a look, but we had to leave because it just isn’t safe under there,” said Ms. Cashman on Sunday afternoon.
Mr. Perreault adds that the only way to remove snow and ice from a canvas-topped structure of this size would be through the use of a crane or other elevated platform.
Fortunately, the structure was insured but now the waiting game begins to see what outcome may arise through the insurance companies.
“Everyone (who rented space) has been very understanding, and we’re just waiting to see how it will all unfold,” said Ms. Cashman. “We feel for the loss and inconvenience this has caused those who have property stored in there. This is now in the hands of the insurance company and we are hopeful that things will proceed smoothly.”
This is only the second season that the couple has owned and operated Twin Peaks. They were planning to host a party in the structure to celebrate, among other things, the success of the business.
Ms. Cashman and Mr. Perreault were not the only ones who were witness to nature’s power recently. Mike Meeker lost two buildings he uses for his Meeker’s Aquaculture business in Evansville on that same night.
“My guys called me when I was on the road on Friday morning and said two of the buildings were down. I said ‘ha, that’s a good joke’ because one building had been standing since 2006 and the other, 2008. Both have been through, as far as I’m concerned, worse snow loads and worse weather conditions than Thursday night,” said Mr. Meeker.
He said when he contacted his insurance company, they told him they were dealing with at least 10 other buildings on the Island that had collapsed that night, in addition to several on the North Shore and a couple large structures in Sudbury.
“The big thing is that no one was hurt. After that, it’s just work to rebuild. We have to deal with the insurance people and get the whole thing cleaned up,” said Mr. Meeker.
One of his buildings was a tarp-roofed structure similar to the one at Twin Peaks, which similarly crushed the structural frame without tearing the canvas at all. The other was an engineered building made of aluminum. Neither Mr. Meeker nor his employees could notice any signs of distress in the days before they collapsed.
“My guys have done a hell of a job. We’ve got one building all pushed out of the way and ready to rebuild around the footing and the pad. I want to get that done ASAP because it’s primarily used for feed storage. Right now, that’s sitting in the snowbank covered with tarps, which is far from ideal,” Mr. Meeker said.
He added that the insurance company told him that they had been hearing many similar stories.
“They said that everybody had said the same things as me, that their buildings were advertised as being made for Canadian winters, our winters here on Manitoulin. They’d been up for, in almost all cases, at least 10 years. And down they went, all in one night,” Mr. Meeker said.
Buildings are generally designed so that snow slides off their roofs, but Mr. Meeker said it seemed the snow had frozen and formed a dome over the roof that would not melt or slide off.
After the buildings collapsed, Mr. Meeker’s wife was concerned and directed him to shovel off the roof of their house. He said the snow up there was waist-deep.
“There was close to four feet of snow on there. The top one foot was relatively fluffy, soft snow, but below that there was about six inches of hard, crusty ice. I’m sure that’s what did it, that’s what was on top of those buildings,” he said.
Unfortunately for Mr. Meeker, while his insurance would cover one of his buildings completely, the policy for the other only afforded partial replacement costs.
“I’m lucky that this hasn’t really affected my business, in terms of being able to continue business as usual, but there’s going to be a financial hit for sure to rebuild the second building,” he said.
He added that some of his equipment inside the engineered building ended up with minor damage, but nothing worse. He has yet to be able to look under the canvas-roofed building to assess the contents.
“It does seem like maybe we’re going to get more dramatic storms like that one, where we get heavier snowfalls at one time and more ice storms. We’re going to make sure that we build to the building standards and codes that are here, and then some, just in case,” Mr. Meeker said.
“No matter how smart and clever I think I’m getting at anticipating things she can throw at me, Mother Nature always keeps stuff in reserve. In my business with the fish, we face water, waves and ice. I’ve learned that you can’t beat her. You just have to really work hard at learning how to work with her and anticipate her moods,” said Mr. Meeker.
