Snow: advice for building owners and schools

19 SEPTEMBER, 2010

Building owners and school board of trustees need to consider the risks of getting and having staff at work today, and at the least, delay opening or start time to later in the morning, according to the Invercargill City Council and Emergency Management Southland. People needing to travel to work or opening businesses need to consider overnight weather and the likelihood of ice on the roads before making any decisions.

Anyone with damage to their building should speak with their insurance assessors in the first instance and get advice from them. For those concerned about the structural integrity of their building should seek the advice of a structural engineer.

The risk is high for buildings with flat roofs and those with internal guttering until the snow has completely melted.

It is the responsibility of the individual schools as to weather they will open. However they are urged to err on the side of caution before the decision to open is made.

People are discouraged from taking further risks while at home and at work, including clearing snow from roofs.

Neil Cruickshank, Controller, Emergency Management Southland, said people should also be mindful of snow falling from roofs as it is very dense and could cause serious injury. People are urged to stay away from eves of buildings. Damage to guttering/spouting, as a result of the weekend’s snow, should be expected.

Snow during Friday night and much of Saturday caused serious damage at Stadium Southland, closed supermarkets and kept the motorists who did venture out down to a crawl.

Heavy snowfall on Saturday saw part of the roof of Stadium Southland in Invercargill collapse and damage to the roof of the Windsor New World supermarket. The roof of the Wrens decorating shop collapsed on Sunday morning, causing extensive damage. There were no injuries in the incidents.

Stadium manager Nigel Skelt told the Southland Times the damage was ''very severe'', with the repair cost likely to be in the millions.

Related links:

Picture gallery (11 pictures of the white-out)
Latest MetService forecasts
Southland Times updates (opens in a new page)
Emergency Management Southland (CD)

ENDS

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