Roof Collapses On Inwood Community Center

Inwood, Iowa — The roof of the gym part of the Inwood Community Center has collapsed.

Inwood city officials tell us no one was injured when the roof collapsed on Saturday night, January 28th, in the 7 p.m. hour. They are asking people to stay away from the community center as they work through details with insurance and cleanup.

While no official word has been received, it is thought that the collapse was due to a heavy snow load. They tell us the walls are pulling in somewhat.

City officials say the Community Center is closed until further notice. They are telling parents who use the bus stop that no one will be able to enter the Community Center at all, including the lobby. They say the Inwood Post Office will allow kids to wait inside for the bus for now if needed due to the cold.

According to Scott Hanson with the City of Inwood, the gym is used for gym nights, racquetball, and various other recreation, and is frequently rented out. He says on a normal Saturday there would probably be 20 kids in the gym, but luckily there was no one in it when the roof came down.

Hanson was one of the first people on the scene beside a few people that were finishing up in one of the meeting rooms when it fell. He says Inwood firefighters and rescue personnel made sure everyone was out of the building, checked the structure, killed the power, and turned off the gas and water.

He tells us the facility is closed right now, but it’s looking like they will be able to continue to use the front half of the building, which contains the city hall and the library. According to Hanson, they are just beginning to talk to their insurance company and they have a structural engineer coming to take a look.

Hanson says when the roof collapsed, it did blow some doors open in the other part of the building and blew roof insulation into the hallway and rooms, which will all have to be cleaned up. He says the gym part of the building is basically destroyed and will need to be replaced if they’re going to continue to have a community gym.

Hanson tells us that the building was built in the 1980s and served as corn storage for a few years, with the intention to turn it into a community center. He says the public is safe as long as they stay away from the building at this time.

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