Heavy snow apparently caused a roof to collapse at a textile mill warehouse in Gastonia on Thursday morning.
Gastonia Fire Department was called to Beverly Knits at 1675 Garfield Drive at 9:28 a.m. Thursday concerning a report of a building collapse at one of its warehouses.
The business was closed and no one was inside at the time.
The cause of the collapse was the heavy snow that has brought several inches of snow to the Gastonia area, according to a release from Gastonia Fire Department.
Heavy snow has the potential to cause large flat roofs to collapse. If you have this type of roof, watch and listen for any kind of cracking, popping, or other warning signs this could happen, advised the Fire Department.
Most residential roofs are not built this way, so the chances of those collapsing are not as high.
Crews were called back out to the scene after workers found a natural gas line had ruptured. Gastonia firefighters found the leak and shut the gas line off.
“If we wouldn’t have found the source and shut that off you have a potential there for a disaster, for an explosion,” said Chris Stowe, spokesman for Gastonia Fire Department.