Building damage from snowstorm relatively low

Jan. 29--The recent snowstorm damaged a few buildings and businesses, but most structures in the Fredericksburg area seem to have emerged relatively unscathed.

Faith Baptist Church, off State Route 3 in Spotsylvania County, had a roof collapse on one of its second-story rooms. Senior pastor the Rev. Watson Morgan said the collapse was discovered Sunday morning.

Faith Baptist streams its services online, but Morgan said a few people managed to make it services at the church despite the more than 14 inches of snow dumped by the storm.

Morgan said he and dozens of helpers shoveled snow out of the room Sunday afternoon.

Jenkins Restorations of Fredericksburg put a temporary roof over the area Monday, Morgan said. The room is also used as a classroom for Faith Baptist School. The school was open on Wednesday, but that section of the building was roped off and classes that met there were moved to another area.

Morgan said Spotsylvania County officials determined the rest of the building is safe to hold classes.

According to Morgan, the church will need an engineer to create a design for a new, permanent roof, and that design must be approved by county officials before it is built, a process he says could take months.

The only other report of structural damage in Spotsylvania was a wooden carport that collapsed from snow. A car sustained minor damage.

In southern Stafford County, work is underway at the Spring Knoll Plaza, where the façades of several businesses collapsed during the storm Saturday night.

Workers from Rolyn Cos., a Rockville, Md.-based contractor, have cleaned up most of the debris, but none of the businesses in the building on Plantation Drive have reopened. A notice by the Department of Code Administration said the structure has been "declared unsafe for human occupancy or use."

Large blue tarps now cover the opening left by the collapse. It is unclear when the reparations will be completed or when the building will reopen.

A couple of gas stations in the area lost metal canopies over their gas pumps.

The Last Stop Mart station off U.S. 1 in North Stafford had its canopy come down on top of its pumps about 10 a.m. Saturday, an employee said. The station was closed at the time.

The employee said an insurance agent was unable to survey the damage until Wednesday, and that there is currently no timeline on repairs. The station's convenience store remains open.

A canopy also collapsed at the Express Foodmart station off William Street in Fredericksburg. The gas pumps are closed, but the convenience store remains open.

No one was hurt in any of the incidents.

Mark Doyle, assistant chief of the Stafford Fire and Rescue Department, said he was not aware of any other structural damage in the county from the storm.

Culpeper officials reported no storm damage.

Ken Nasse: 540/374-5434

[email protected]

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