COLBY, WI (OnFocus) – The storm system that came through Wednesday night tore off a portion of the Packaging Corporation of America building roof and scattered it over neighboring properties.
The tin roof appeared to have peeled off during the near 75 mile per hour winds reported during the storm. The tin from the roof traveled as far as six city blocks before it came to rest on residents’ yards, trees and houses.
In one case, a 20-foot stretch of tin ended up suspended in a 35-foot tree in a resident’s yard.
The PCA building is located on Highway 13 in Colby and a bulk of the damage appeared to occur east of the building. Across the street, there are some small businesses, a residential area and a trio of softball fields. Damage could be found at nearly all of those areas.
The Colby Softball fields had extensive damage as the press box stairway was knocked away from the building, dugout roofs were collapsed and scoreboards were knocked over. Fencing all around the fields were also damaged during the storm.
Residents from Colby have banded together to help clean up the wreckage and crews are working to restore power to all that lost it during last night’s events.
Air conditioning units and ventilation areas of the roof were also damaged during the storm. PCA moved its manufacturing departments from the building in Colby to their new facility in Marshfield in 2018. The Colby building has been closed since then. It is unclear what will happen to the Colby facility at this time.
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