Carports and roofs buckling under the weight of snow across Western WA

EVERETT - Carports are buckling under the weight of all the snow across Western Washington.

Tuesday morning a portion of a carport at an Everett home fell on top of a car here. An elderly woman inside the house at the time was not injured.

A more serious situation in Lacey happened Monday night.

“Last night was quite a night,” Kelly McMeekin said.

McMeekin’s timing couldn’t have been any better.

She says about a minute after she moved her vehicle from the carport the entire structure collapsed on top of multiple cars with people inside at the Timbers Apartments.

“Crazy experience I am just glad everyone made it ok even those trapped in their cars were able to climb out their windows,” McMeekin said.

Not far from McMeekin, a similar situation in Olympia, another carport broke under the pressure landing on top of several cars, this time at the Huntington Apartments.

“Carports are stressed right now,” Steve Goforth with Everett Fire said.

Firefighters say carports around Western Washington are not equipped for this much snow.

“Especially flat ones or lighter weight carports,” Goforth said.

Goforth says move your vehicles from under vulnerable carports just to be safe.

If it’s not carports it’s roofs themselves. In Spanaway, a portion of the roof at Ace Hardware collapsed. The owner says at the same time the windows broke too.

Meanwhile in Everett, Linda Himple’s place is in one piece and she’s hoping it stays that way.

“I am staying off the deck right now and praying it doesn’t collapse,” Himple said. haha

We walked through 2 feet of snow to see that back deck in question where we saw about a foot of snow weighing down her deck.

As the snow starts to melt it will make the snow heavier

“It’s not fluffy anymore, I will say the snow is a lot heavier today,” Steve Malcom said.

Heavier snow can also impact gutters and downspouts, Malcom is keeping a close eye on his neighbor’s gutters that are starting to bend under the snow.

“I have been here 35 years never seen anything like this before,” Malcolm said.