Gusting winds whip the falling snow around Scott Hart's head as the repairman nails down lumber on a roof damaged by a tornado.
Hart is a subcontractor for Utah Disaster Kleenup, a trouble-shooting firm that moves onto a scene once fires, floods and other calamities leave.The tornado hit the Hidden Valley Estates subdivision, ripped the roof from one house and embedded the debris into surrounding residences.
"It just somehow walked down the street about 100 feet and left," said Ron Bullock, chief of Sandy City's building inspection office. "We're still concerned about snow loads."
John and Kay Allen, 11606 S. 1380 East, were watching Hart fix a six-by-12-foot section of the roof that was ripped out when the twister hit, 9:10 a.m. Tuesday.
The Allens' insurance company contacted Utah Disaster Kleenup and got someone to the home within hours. The couple refused to stay in a hotel, and said the house would be repaired before the worst of the storm hit.
"People, if there's any way they can, want to stay in their homes," said Denny Johnson, president of 14-year-old firm based in Midvale.
The company specializes in cleaning up after emergencies and taking care of all aspects of restoring a home - from repairing structural damage to cleaning drapes, Johnson said.
Allen had no idea how much it would cost to repair the split-entry home. "It's gonna take much more time to do a detailed analysis" before putting a dollar figure for repairs.
"As far as we can tell, four (houses) were structurally damaged" and another dozen had shingles ripped off roofs and windows broken in the neighborhood. "It just came down, BAM, moved around and left."
Residents were picking up shingles and the Allens brought back a piece of their roof from up the street as schoolchildren and cars cruised past the house for a first-hand meteorology lesson.