Hurricane-force winds rip through businesses

Wind gusts up to 98 miles an hour tore through a two-block area in south Carson City Saturday night, causing heavy damage to several businesses and homes.

The gusts mangled the overhang on the west side of Silver State Fitness, damaging windows and uprooting air conditioners.

"At this point the building is not inhabitable. The owners will have to call the building inspector to see the extent of the structural damage. We have secured the electricity and gas to make sure we don't have bigger problem should it further collapse," Carson City Fire Capt. Dave Miller said.

The business' owners, Craig and Cindy McEwan, were called to check the building.

"Things happen and it will be rebuilt. It's a wind storm, it's too bad but things happen. You can't plan for something like this but we have a lot of support," Mrs. McEwan said.

While Silver State Fitness received the most damage, the debris from that building became projectiles in the high wind. Wood slats smashed through windows of several businesses on South Roop Street, including Tip Top Amusement Company.

"I can't believe it. We have 2-by-6s through our roof. Beams from the building went through our back steel door and through a camper shell on one of our trucks," owner Gary Minter, said.

The wind also caused minor damage to several homes along Industrial Park Road, which is adjacent to the businesses. Property owner Edwina Koepsell said there were two broken car windows but thankfully very little damage to the homes.

"(The occupants) said it was like a train came through. They saw sheets of plywood flying through the air," Koepsell said.

Dan Fielder, operations manager at KPTL, said the wind gauge on their roof across the street from Silver State Fitness registered gusts up to 98 miles per hour.

The gusts also bent the traffic signal at the intersection of Roop and Fairview streets.

South Washoe Valley and Carson City put in a high wind advisory for most of the evening. Meteorologist Brian O'Hara with the National Weather Service in Reno said the strong winds were the result of a western cold front moving through the area.

"A wind gust might have hit a building just right and caused a swirling motion that would have caused the damage," O'Hara said.

The wind was expected to die down overnight as the cold front continued to pass through northern Nevada.

While the rest of the city was not hit with the severity of south Carson, the windy conditions did cause downed power lines and left an area east of Saliman Road without power. Traffic on several side streets were impeded by fallen limbs, but no major roads were impacted, according to Carson City dispatch.

-- Contact reporter Jarid Shipley at jshipley@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.