RICHMOND HILL, Ga. (WSAV) - Three boat shelters collapsed at a marina and boat yard in Richmond Hill this week under the weight of sleet and ice from the recent snowfall.
Several boats that were under a shed at Fort Mcallister Marina are in various states of disrepair.
"Most of the T-tops, I'd say all the T-tops of everybody's boat is ruined," Eric Langley, a boat owner who sustained damage, said. "So, that's got to be replaced. Then, the steel structure hit the side of my boat. So, there's extensive glass damage as well."
Dozens of other boats were also damaged further down the road at a boat yard that's part of the marina when two other sheds collapsed, according to Owner of Fort Mcallister Marina, Butch Broome.
"It's an unprecedented event," Broome said. "Nobody could foresee us getting this much ice. If it was just snow, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation, but because we had so much ice, I don't think we've ever had this much ice, we had a storage facility collapse."
Many boaters agreed that the situation was unavoidable.
"The structure that was put up a couple years ago really was designed for wind, so with all the slush and ice, it was just too much weight," Langley said.
However, others were skeptical, posting online comments about the stability of the structure.
"Everybody was calling, checking on their boats. Of course, the Facebook warriors were all out there putting it all over Facebook. All that did was make us get more calls," Broome said. "We did the calculations on this building back here. It was determined that two inches of snow was about 6500 pounds. Two inches of sleet or 2.5 inches of sleet was right at 70,000 pounds."
While most of the boats will need repairs, most seemed to be glad that the damage wasn't worse.
"This makes sense. I was more concerned with my house. I got home and shoveled parts of the roof off that were low pitch. This can be fixed. The house would be a much bigger deal," Langley said.
Broome said equipment is being shipped to try and remove the old structure from the top of the boats next week.
