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Shaken, but no one is badly hurt

By JAMIE THOMPSON, CURTIS KRUEGER and CARRIE WEIMAR
Published February 4, 2006

[Times photo: Bill Serne]

The roof on the Bed Bath & Beyond near Tyrone Square Mall was new, according to a property manager, but there is no record it was ever inspected, as required by city code, St. Petersburg workers said. The roof crashed down near the registers on Friday.

ST. PETERSBURG - She had just selected a new toaster at Bed Bath & Beyond on Friday morning when raindrops started falling into the store.

Then Michelle Palaganas heard a clanging, loud and sudden, like the sound of metal twisting. She lifted her eyes and knew: The roof was about to fall down.

Palaganas dropped the toaster and ran toward the back, screaming "Come on!" to other customers. All the shoppers and employees were sprinting and shouting, searching for a way out.

Behind them a large section of the roof crashed down near the cash registers. Then it smashed through the glass windows and entrance door. Rain poured inside, driving down in thick sheets, picking up shopping baskets, place mats and roof debris and tossing them 100 feet out into the parking lot.

Palaganas and the others pushed through a fire door and ran out into the rain, crying and shaking.

"I thought I was going to die. I thought that was the end," Palaganas said, her hands trembling.

Within minutes of the roof collapse at 10:58 a.m. Friday, more than 40 rescue trucks and dozens of patrol cars raced toward the store at 2060 66th St. N, near Tyrone Square Mall. All around, streets were flooded with calf-high water, slowing the progress of the ambulances and fire trucks. Lightning crackled and thunder boomed as customers tried to flee the area.

No one was seriously hurt. One store employee had minor injuries, said St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt.

Outside in the parking lot, Palaganas' cell phone kept ringing.

"I can't talk, I'm at the Bed Bath & Beyond," said the St. Petersburg mother of three. "Oh my God, the roof just fell in."

Fire chiefs suspect the sudden, pounding rain accumulated on the roof and caused the collapse, although the exact reason is not yet known.

Engineers on the scene said more than 4 inches of standing water could have triggered the fall, said St. Petersburg Assistant Fire Chief Jim Large. It's likely that the drains couldn't clear the water fast enough, or they were clogged.

The store's roof was brand new, said David Rubin, vice president of property management for Cambridge Management, which oversees the shopping complex, Crosswinds Center.

"We don't know what's going on right now but we're trying to find out," Rubin said. "Our main concern was to make sure everyone was okay."

According to city records, a contractor acquired a roof permit for the building last April, paying a fee of $2,690. The roof was installed, a property manager said Friday.

But there is no record it was ever inspected, as required by city code, said employees at the city's construction services and permitting department.

An inspection would have been required before the building received a certificate of occupancy. The roofing permit expired in October.

Top city building officials could not be reached Friday for comment.

The contractor was Peach State Roofing Inc. in Georgia. Calls to a Florida-based vice president were not returned on Friday.

Firefighters estimated a 15-by-30 foot section of the roof fell, just inside the store. The damage was stunning, they said.

"It's almost like a bomb went off in there," said Chuck Kearns, director of Emergency Medical Services and Fire Administration for Pinellas County.

A portion of the roof at Marshalls, right next door, also collapsed, Proffitt said. He believed it happened sometime after the Bed Bath & Beyond collapse, and that everyone already had evacuated.

Mayor Rick Baker, wet and rumpled on the scene, said Friday's storm was one of the worst in the city's history, with more than 12 inches of rain in less than three hours in some areas.

"It was an incredible, quick storm," Baker said.

The first hours after the collapse were chaotic outside the shopping center. Rescue workers had accounted for all the store employees, but did not know whether any customers were trapped inside.

Firefighters did a quick check after arriving, fearful that the roof would collapse further on top of them.

They called in the county's Technical Rescue Team, specially trained in search and rescue. They did two searches, using sniffer dogs from Tampa and Bradenton.

As rescue trucks arrived, the rain came harder, flooding the parking lot with a foot of water.

One agency sent a militaristic truck, painted in camouflage, that prowled through the water on large tires. At one point, a city fire worker riding in the truck had a seizure. Paramedics crowded around, shouting through the wind for an ambulance. They rushed him to the hospital, where he was stabilized, Proffitt said.

For those who witnessed the roof collapse, it was a sight they would never forget.

"Some people came out bleeding," said Heather Love, the manager of a nearby Taco Bell, who saw the debris and merchandise floating out of the store.

In the adjacent Marshalls, a customer in a fitting room reported hearing a huge crash, said employee Mary Broadnax. Then people came running in from Bed Bath & Beyond.

"One had a significant cut on her right arm, bleeding profusely," Broadnax said.

Throughout the afternoon, rescue workers took breaks in a nearby Subway. The business, like all others in the shopping center, had shut down. But employees stuck around, making platters of sandwiches for the firefighters and police officers.

In a CVS pharmacy, workers from Bed Bath & Beyond huddled in the back. They declined to comment. Periodically, a frantic relative arrived at the pharmacy looking for a loved one. One woman with long blond hair rushed around the shopping center, searching for her mother. "I want my mom," she cried.

Dozens of news outlets flooded the area, including a reporter for Good Morning America.

By 3 p.m., rescue workers felt certain no one was trapped inside the building. Most of the ambulances had left the scene. Insurance workers were surveying the damage and planned to board the windows. There's no word on when the store, or others in the shopping center, would reopen.

Police remained concerned about the roof at Marshalls, as it had a puddle 30 feet wide and 6 inches deep.

As night fell, authorities prepared for another batch of rain bands swirling toward Pinellas County. More rain was forecast for today.

Times staff writers Sharon Bond, Thomas C. Tobin and Jon Wilson contributed to this report. Jamie Thompson can be reached at 727 893-8455. Send e-mail to jthompson@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 4, 2006, 00:33:08]