Heavy Snow Hits Delta Junction: IGA & Buffalo Center Gas Station Roofs Collapse Under The Weight

Delta IGA  (Photo, IGA Facebook Site) 

UPDATES 

IGA Food Cache

23 hrs · 

Update: for Wednesday Morning 12/29
We will be open 9AM-10PM
Location:Beverage Cellar
We have most essentials out and priced
Milk,eggs,Bread,Bacon,sausage
Hotdogs,coffee, sugar, flour
Canned goods, some frozen, some Produce etc.

If you are in need of anything you don’t see I will be at the location all day just ask for Brittany and I will find it for you! 895-1098

Again Thank You to everyone that has stopped in, called, left a message, and offered help. We have not been able to respond to everyone like we want-
We appreciate it more than words can express.
We are pushing on and will continue to do so.

Our community is the ❤️ heart of our business and we are here because of your continued support.

IGA Food Cache

20 hrs · 

Update:
We are working hard to get essential items available to the community as soon as possible. We are waiting on getting cooler space up and running and hope to have it set and available late tomorrow afternoon at the Beverage Cellar. In the next 3-5 days we will have a second location up and running with produce, and non perishable essentials. We have a grocery load in route and will work to keep the community with a local source of the needed essentials. We do not have computers or online pricing system so we ask for some patience as we work out the kinks and operational set backs. Thank you to everyone that has messaged, called and reached out. We truly appreciate it and is what is keeping us going!

IGA Food Cache

December 26 at 6:23 PM · 

It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that we must announce the long term temporary closure of the store. Unbelievably today our roof collapsed from the recent heavy snow and ice fall. At this time we are unable to give any answers on how long the closure will be. Unfortunately we do know it is not anytime soon. We are at the mercy of the weather, engineers, and insurance adjusters. Thank You to everyone that has reached out, we appreciate it. We hope to have answers before long and will update as we get them. We are grateful for our community and are devastated that we are leaving you without a grocery source. We are currently working on solutions to provide some source of groceries and hope to have one soon.

Thank You,
Ed and Gayle Larson

Weather Service Says 31 Lbs. Per Square Foot On The Roofs Did The Trick 

Everybody is used to the idea that Valdez has heavy snows. Valdez averages 20 feet of snow each winter. In a "bad" year (for example the winter of 1987) Valdez got 30 feet of snow.

The worst Valdez ever got was 42 feet of snow during the winter of 1928-29. It's never a Good Thing, actually. There have been years when homes in Valdez have seen roofs collapse under the weight of all that snow. And when boats have sunk in the Valdez harbor, laden down with ice. There's so much snow in Valdez, on a regular basis, that people make a living there in winter, shoveling snow off roofs. 

But Delta Junction? Delta, which is the next town up the Richardson from the Copper Valley, is best known for its cold weather and winds, not its snow. And it measures its precipitation in inches, not feet. It's a cold place, and heavy snow needs relative warmth. Very cold snow tends to be scant and lightweight. 

The Delta IGA has been a centerpiece of Delta for decades. It seemed like a big, solid, sturdy building.

So it was a surprise this Christmas of 2021 when the Delta IGA roof collapsed under the weight of.a snowstorm. There was no report of anybody being hurt as the center aisles of the store were inundated with ice and snow.

Then, down the road across town, the Delta Buffalo Center Service station's roof also collapsed. 

This was doubly bad news. Delta, like Glennallen, is a relatively small place. The Buffalo Center and the IGA are the primary businesses there. It was as if in Glennallen the roofs had collapsed at both the Hub and the Glennallen IGA. 

Reports from KTOO News said that the Wells Fargo, next door to the IGA, was not affected, and the National Weather Service said the snow load in Delta at the time weighed 31 pounds per square foot.