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Toys 'R' Us Roof collapses...
Posted: 2003-02-22 12:44pm
by haas mark
http://www.msnbc.com/news/875969.asp?cp1=1
IT’S UNCLEAR how many people are inside the store in the Landover Hills area.
The area got more than a foot of snow last weekend, and it has been raining heavily since yesterday. A number of roofs in the Washington D.C.-area have caved in since the snowfall because of the weight of the snow.
Hugh Harris, fire marshall at the West Lanham Hills Fire Department, told NBC News that 40 percent of the roof of the single-story building collapsed.
Once this happened the evacuation alarm was sounded, but some people are currently trapped inside, he said.
Rescue teams and 12 medical units have been sent to the scene.
He said the store had been open for about four hours, so he thinks there are both employees and customers trapped inside.
The D.C. fire department is also sending a team to the scene.
Posted: 2003-02-22 02:02pm
by Howedar
Bizarre.
Posted: 2003-02-22 02:07pm
by AdmiralKanos
Snow load is part of standard civil engineering constraints for public buildings. Somebody obviously fucked up.
Posted: 2003-02-22 02:31pm
by TrailerParkJawa
AdmiralKanos wrote:Snow load is part of standard civil engineering constraints for public buildings. Somebody obviously fucked up.
Do you know if this is true even for areas that do not get snow. Like where I live for example? ( Just a few miles NE of Silicon Valley )
Does snow load assume a heavy wet snow?
Posted: 2003-02-22 02:33pm
by ArmorPierce
I don't think they would consider snow for your area if it doesn't get any snow. They would consider other natural factors though.
Posted: 2003-02-22 02:33pm
by AdmiralKanos
TrailerParkJawa wrote:AdmiralKanos wrote:Snow load is part of standard civil engineering constraints for public buildings. Somebody obviously fucked up.
Do you know if this is true even for areas that do not get snow. Like where I live for example? ( Just a few miles NE of Silicon Valley )
Washington DC gets snow. They should have designed for it. Moreover, even areas which get infrequent show should design for it. Engineering risk is the probability of an event multiplied by the magnitude of that event.
Does snow load assume a heavy wet snow?
Yes. Obviously, you design for the worst-case scenario, just as skyscrapers are designed for high winds, not a mild breeze.
Posted: 2003-02-22 02:35pm
by Joe
Good lord, what is this, national disaster week? This makes three.
Posted: 2003-02-22 02:49pm
by TrailerParkJawa
ArmorPierce wrote:I don't think they would consider snow for your area if it doesn't get any snow. They would consider other natural factors though.
Earthquakes are the main danger here. Landslides and wildfires are a big danger in some areas too. One of the big reasons we did not see widespread destruction in 1989 was good building codes.
Posted: 2003-02-22 03:30pm
by Darth Balls
remember that blizzard back in 93? I was about to go to a borders book store, but i changed my mind at the last minute, I went to a mall instead, after leaving the mall I heard on the radio that the roof of the borders I was going to go to had collapsed for the same reason as this toys r us.
weird
Posted: 2003-02-22 03:34pm
by Rubberanvil
AdmiralKanos wrote:Snow load is part of standard civil engineering constraints for public buildings. Somebody obviously fucked up.
Just by not removing the snow off of the roof.
Posted: 2003-02-22 04:47pm
by Sea Skimmer
Rubberanvil wrote:AdmiralKanos wrote:Snow load is part of standard civil engineering constraints for public buildings. Somebody obviously fucked up.
Just by not removing the snow off of the roof.
If its the size of the Toys 'R' Us's where I am, you'd never be able to clear off the roofs unless you got a crane and put a snowplow up there.
Posted: 2003-02-22 04:50pm
by Mr Bean
Odd that... I for a fact that my Local Toys R Us when I lived in North Carolina was designed to hold six feet of snow and a nearly another few PPS onto of that nevermind the record was roughly four and 1/2 feet of snow for that area
Considering thats NC I wonder how much lower the Standerds had to have been in DC which is much farther north
Posted: 2003-02-22 04:52pm
by haas mark
Mr Bean wrote:Odd that... I for a fact that my Local Toys R Us when I lived in North Carolina was designed to hold six feet of snow and a nearly another few PPS onto of that nevermind the record was roughly four and 1/2 feet of snow for that area
Considering thats NC I wonder how much lower the Standerds had to have been in DC which is much farther north
It's coastal, so there is actually a lot less snow, because it also is not in a mountain range. Probably, it would be somewhat lower, but in all sense, shouldnt' be too much.
Posted: 2003-02-22 04:53pm
by Wicked Pilot
Durran Korr wrote:Good lord, what is this, national disaster week? This makes three.
It's the signs of the end times. Repent!
Posted: 2003-02-22 04:58pm
by Sea Skimmer
verilon wrote:Mr Bean wrote:Odd that... I for a fact that my Local Toys R Us when I lived in North Carolina was designed to hold six feet of snow and a nearly another few PPS onto of that nevermind the record was roughly four and 1/2 feet of snow for that area
Considering thats NC I wonder how much lower the Standerds had to have been in DC which is much farther north
It's coastal, so there is actually a lot less snow, because it also is not in a mountain range. Probably, it would be somewhat lower, but in all sense, shouldnt' be too much.
There is less snow, from storms moving directly in from the west. But when they mopve up the coast, the storms have near unlimited mostier to pull out of the oceans and dump inland. Thats what gave the east caost its most recent heavy snowfall.
Posted: 2003-02-22 05:12pm
by The Great Unbearded One
America's having a rough week isnt it....
Posted: 2003-02-22 05:13pm
by Montcalm
Were they too lazy to shovel the snow off the roof.
Posted: 2003-02-22 05:22pm
by Darth Wong
As an engineer, you cannot count on them shovelling snow off the roof in a timely fashion. Engineers must design for worst-case scenarios where public safety is concerned. It is the #1 rule of engineering ethics and law.
Posted: 2003-02-22 05:22pm
by Rubberanvil
Sea Skimmer wrote:
If its the size of the Toys 'R' Us's where I am, you'd never be able to clear off the roofs unless you got a crane and put a snowplow up there.
Still cheaper and safer to do that instead of the alternative.
Posted: 2003-02-22 05:35pm
by kojikun
I'm not an engineer and even I know that if you assume the worst you'll be prepared for damned near anything.
Posted: 2003-02-22 05:44pm
by Frank Hipper
The Great Unbearded One wrote:America's having a rough week isnt it....
We're having a rough couple of years, actually.
Posted: 2003-02-22 05:51pm
by neoolong
Darth Balls wrote:remember that blizzard back in 93? I was about to go to a borders book store, but i changed my mind at the last minute, I went to a mall instead, after leaving the mall I heard on the radio that the roof of the borders I was going to go to had collapsed for the same reason as this toys r us.
weird
It was God. See he exists.
