Post Office roof shuts down business

A Connecticut Post Office was damaged when its roof collapsed. Postal workers, in Gales Ferry, are now struggling to do their work in another location.

This collapse comes just as a new roof was being put on the Gales Ferry office building.

"We're putting a new five pitch roof. It's a flat roof and they've had problems with it," said George Blatchford of B&D Home Improvements.

Problems stemmed from years of little leaks which this week's rain turned into a bigger collapse.

"We pulled most of the sheet rock down. Really, only a little part fell, like a two by three foot sheet rock being wet," said Blatchford.

Pictures show the mess it made. The post office said no mail was damaged and no workers were hurt. Still, it all came down as the source of the long time problem was being fixed.

Even after Wednesday's initial collapse, News Channel 8 was told more tiles have fallen inside the building and with so much water and wires it's just not safe for anybody to work in there.

A steady stream of customers turned away.

"It's not surprising because the roof is flat," said Ruth Kozak of Gales Ferry.

Kozak gets her mail delivered but 350 people with post office boxes will now have to go Ledyard Center.

"I feel badly that the roof collapsed because I really enjoy going in there and getting my stamps," said Kozak.

Now she'll have to go over to the Ledyard Center. "Which is about twenty minutes away from here," said Kozak.

It's an inconvenience for some residents and a big clean up for workers.

"We're gonna redo the whole inside and we're redoing the whole outside, that will take care of all the problems," said Blatchford.

News Channel 8 has been told the Gales Ferry Post Office will open no sooner than November 4th.