Sunday’s forecast here was
for high and gusty winds throughout the afternoon. They weren’t wrong this
time. Stepping outside of Hyperion this afternoon at about 2 PM I heard the wrinkly
sound of sheet metal blowing about in the wind. After a quick glance at the
banners on the end of the museum building and the banners hung on the fencing
across the street at the museum expansion construction I realized the the noise
was coming from the metal roof of the Café New Orleans/Bourbon Room building on
William Street. The wind had gotten underneath the metal roofing and turned it
into a sheet metal kite that threatened to fly away with every gust.
Not only
was the roof in danger of taking flight but the mortar holding the top level of
bricks on the end wall was rapidly giving way and debris was falling to the
street.

Unsuspecting pedestrians could very easily have been seriously injured by
the falling bricks but fortunately there were no casualties. 

A quick thinking customer across the street at
Hyperion called the city and shortly after the Fredericksburg police and fire
department arrived and secured the area. William Street was closed between
Princess Anne St and Caroline Street was closed and stayed closed to both vehicular
and foot traffic for the next hour and a half.

Fortunately the winds began
to subside and those of us who had visions of catching that great photo of the
whole roof sailing of into the clear blue sky got no such picture. A repair
crew finally arrived and got onto the roof to nail boards into place to hold
the flailing sheet metal in place until permanent repairs could begin.

Once
that starts it will take a while to complete I would guess because there is
going to be some rather delicate masonry repair to be done as well.