Manteca, CA, October 20--Twenty-five hundred square feet of B.F. Funstein's roof collapsed Tuesday under heavy rain, according to the Manteca Bulletin.
B.F. Funstein is a flooring distribution company that moved to Manteca from South San Francisco seven years ago, and provides flooring for do-it-yourself home repair retailers and other businesses.
The section of roof caving in at the distribution center on the northeast corner of South Main Street and Industrial Drive was the same area as a typical new tract home built in Manteca.
No one was hurt during the incident that occurred as Manteca weathered nearly two inches of rain as of 8 p.m. on Tuesday. The city's official rain gauge at the Civic Center record 1.49 inches by 3 p.m. with most of that falling between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. flooding dozens of intersections, threatening homes and snarling traffic. Winds peaked at 32 mph in the early afternoon.
Manteca Fire and Police Departments did a full response to Funstein because there were reports of a person trapped inside the building.
But the biggest problem turned out to be the flat roof.
When Manteca Police officers Sam Gallego and Steve Harris got there with Manteca firefighters, they evacuated the building and switched off the power to avoid electrocution and further complications from the rising water levels.
According to Manteca Police spokesman Rex Osborn, the levels of water at the business were almost up to the loading docks, threatening a flood in the building.
Drainage was not the problem for B.F. Funstein, according to Manteca Fire captain Kirk Waters, one of the firefighters on scene. When he and other firefighters went on top of the roof, he said the water was draining fine, but during the particularly heavy downpour, the older building's roof couldn't hold the weight.
Waters estimated that a 50-foot by 50-foot portion fell.
Waters and Osborn said that crews did a fantastic job evacuating the building, getting everybody out quickly.
Waters said that the business is currently working with engineers and other services to repair the damage.
