Jeanne tears off St. Pete apartment roof

Monday, September 27, 2004

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The roof took a couple of hours to collapse.
Families trying to make it through Hurricane Jeanne at Tanglewood Apartments in St. Petersburg heard a loud, ripping sound at about 9 a.m. Sunday.

They looked out their windows and noticed half the roof had been peeled away.

"The roofing material that came off [was] probably in excess of a couple tons of material," said Jim, the maintenance supervisor for the property. "Forty feet wide by 140 feet long. Lifted it and folded it like it was a taco."

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Jim and his crew spent most of Monday putting an emergency covering over the roof and cleaning up the water that soaked through three floors.

Despite all that, only a few families were displaced.

"We have 144 units," said Jim. "Only four families had to be relocated."

It's not yet clear the value of personal items lost in the apartments, but it's not as bad as it could have been, thanks to Jim. He went from apartment to apartment, warning people the roof was coming off, giving them time to save their valuables.