House destroyed by heavy snow in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, owner says

The weight of record snowfall in Happy Valley-Goose Bay has destroyed a man's house, buryingpriceless family valuables inthe home where he planned to retire.

"[It's] hard, very hard," homeowner Randy Anthony, 52, told CBC.

"I wish it didn't happen, but unfortunately you can't mess with Mother Nature and snow."

There is a record amount of snow on the ground in Happy Valley-Goose Bay this season. According to Environment Canada, the amount of snow on the ground Jan. 31 hit 199 centimetres, breaking the previous January record of 183 centimetres in 2006.

Anthony's neighbours, who declined to comment on the record,told CBC they heard a rumbling noise early in the morning of Jan. 25, and came outside to find the house collapsed.

"Everybody is safe, thankfully. Thankfully, there was nobody living in it," said Samantha Morgan, a family friend of the neighbours.

Anthony, who now lives and works in Toronto,said the heavy snow comingearlier than usual thisyear caught him off guard, and it wasn't easy to find a way to keep it clear from so far away.

"One of the load-bearing walls just couldn't take the weight," he said.

"I'm surprised it's not even snow month in Goose Bay yet. That'll be March."

Starting over

Anthony said he had investedthousands of dollars into renovating the house, near the corner ofPalliserCrescent and Hunt Street, where he planned to retire. Nowhe has to find a way to rebuild.

"That was my little getaway when I'm done here in the city," he said.

Can't go backwards got to go forward now. I'm hopeful to get all the material saved that I can and start afresh.- Randy Anthony

"[Retirement] isn't right around the corner but I was prepping for it. That was my project to prep, and I was going to get in there some time this year and start a different phase of it, and now I have to start it over."

Anthony said he wasn't able to insure the house because he wasn't occupying it.He is planning to get back to the house before things thaw out for the summer withthe hopes of digging out some of the materials he was using to renovate the house.

"It's going to be all out of my pocket, more savings," he said.

He didn't just lose the money he had put into it;the house was passed down to him from his parents and many of the belongings they passed down to him are now buried.

"Everything was in there, like, the furniture, the cups, the cabinets, stuff like that," he said. "It's old stuff with memories, you know what I mean?

"Can't go backwards. Got to go forward now. I'm hopeful to get all the material saved that I can and start afresh," he said.

Stacking up

With snow stacking up on roofs all over town, that means busy times for contractors.

"Some of the roofs we've been on have five or sixfeet on them, a lot of weight," said Jeremy Anderson, who works in construction but makes a few bucks on the side clearing off roofs..

This year, he said, it's been flat-out.

"Usually we just do our own construction buildings and stuff but we've been on roofs pretty much every night of the week the last few weeks.

It's an important chore, he said, that needs to be donefor safety's sake.

"It's dangerous. Snow could fall off on somebody," Anderson said.

"Sewer pipes or drain pipes, if that freezes up then you've got problems inside your house and of course, the obvious one: collapse."

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