The weight of ice and snow is being blamed for Friday morning's roof collapse at Neiss Body & Equipment Corp.
Marla Neiss -- who owns the company along with her husband, John, and his mother, Mary Neiss -- was in an adjacent office about 10 a.m. when the roof began to buckle in the manufacturing facility at 17485 Old Lincoln Way.
The seven or eight employees in the plant heard some creaking and fled before the roof of the 60- by 200-foot structure gave way, she said. No injuries were reported.
"You could hear the creaking," Marla Neiss said. "It was just like the Titanic."
The collapse occurred in "a matter of minutes," she said. "You could see it all falling. We're so thankful all the employees got out."
The facility is a total loss, said Jim Wharton of R.E. Miller Insurance. He estimated damage at $700,000.
The collapse will shut down the company's custom truck body production for two or three weeks, Marla Neiss said, while arrangements to move the business to a temporary manufacturing facility in the area are completed.
Meanwhile, she said, the company is asking for "patience and a prayer" from its customers.
