Brad Horn/Nevada AppealBairon Rosales, right, and his son Eric, 15, of Carson City look at damage their collapsed aluminum carport caused to their mini-van when the structure buckled from too much snow at their home at the Lone Mountain Mobile Home Park. Top, Bruce Bearce, front, shovels snow off a mobile home at the park Sunday.
Carson City got a brief respite Sunday as the relentless winter storm that dumped up to 2 feet of snow in the area let up long enough for residents to start digging out and assessing the damage " before the next wave of heavy snow and gusty winds were predicted for tonight.
Forecasters were calling for the low-pressure system that's been responsible for the monstrous storm system to finally make its way on shore. It will bring an additional 8-10 inches of snow to valley floors and another 1-2 feet in the foothills above 5,000 feet tonight, according to Chris Schulz, meteorologist with the National Weather Service out of Reno.
The recent large snowfalls have taken a toll on area carports and awnings, as the weight of heavy, wet flakes plus some early morning rain pushed the trusses and rafters of the flat-roofed structures to their limits.
Bruce Bearce ambled up the slope of a snowy rooftop at the Lone Mountain Mobile Home Park Sunday, shoving snow down with a large pole- and-shovel contraption, trying to prevent a collapse.
Bearce has been shoveling roofs since 1991.
He climbed a ladder to the top of a neighbor's roof and sent an avalanche of wet snow thudding to the ground. Despite the danger and the hard work, he says he doesn't do it for the money, charging a nominal fee of $20 to $30.
"I just try to help my neighbors out," he said, hurrying around with the 6-foot pole in hand, ready to get to the next roof. "I'm not trying to get rich."
But not even Bearce and his special pole-mounted shovel could help Zena and Bairon Rosales, who woke up Saturday to a huge crashing sound. Their carport had come down right on the hood of their white mini-van.
Bairon and his 15-year-old son, Eric, worked to bring the rest of the structure down, using wooden posts to sturdy it up before tearing it off the side of the house like a giant sheet of aluminum foil.
"I woke up around 10:30 a.m. and heard this loud crunching sound," recalled Bairon.
The Rosales' other children Diana and Randy hid behind the side of the house and hurled snowballs while the corrugated roof was detached, nail by nail, pieces of soaked particle board breaking off where they had once been attached to the frame of the house.
Zena said they planned to put up an all-wooden structure next time.
Bairon was also taking it in stride.
The house one block to the east had suffered the same fate, the aluminum posts buckling and crunching at their weak points under the snow's heft.
"I'm glad we moved the other car," added Zeta.
A winter-storm warning remains in effect until 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Contact reporter Peter Thompson at pthompson@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1215.
