SILVER WATER—The large amount of snow and ice that the Manitoulin Island area has received this winter has caused another business’s large building roof to collapse.
“Fortunately no one was hurt,” stated Bob Benedict, of his sawmill having come down due to the heavy load of snow and ice on the roof of the building.
The incident “took place a week ago Friday (March 15),” Mr. Benedict told the Recorder late last week. “The building was 70 foot by 24 foot,” he added. His sawmill is located on Walkhouse Road in Silver Water.
“It was due to the snow, obviously I didn’t get all of it off the roof soon enough. Once the snow arrived this year it never left,” said Mr. Benedict, who pointed out he did not have insurance on the building, but indicated that he would definitely be rebuilding the sawmill. “The building has been there for 20 years; this is the first time there has been any problem.”
As for damage done to equipment in the sawmill, “there is damage, but I don’t know how extensive it is at this point. There is a good four feet of snow on top of everything.”
