Rain Causes Ceiling Collapse

February 20, 2008 Just after 3:00am Wednesday morning residents living at an apartment complex at Maple and Shields in East Central Fresno woke up to a ceiling collapse. A section of the roof over four apartments was already under repair because of leaks. The manager had offered to relocate the families but they had opted to stay.

But the weight of the water was too much for the ceiling to bear. Neighbors woke up to a loud boom and thought it was thunder. "Just like a crash, something crushing, you could hear the rafters up there, when the whole thing went boom, just like that," said neighbor Amos Harris.

Brian Price of the Fresno City Fire Department said, "They were kind of caught in the middle of it. The rain came in through the open roof and collapsed the sheetrock ceiling on all the upper story apartments."

One woman was hurt by falling sheetrock. She was taken by ambulance to community regional medical center. Now about 20 people are displaced from their homes. The property management company is looking into relocating them to another complex.