A ski carrier shattered the book store’s picture window at around 3 p.m. Tuesday after a gust of wind tore part of a roof rack off a car and hurled the attached carrier across the street.
Babbling Book & the Dragon’s Nook owner Darcee Messano said the carrier smashed into the widow so hard that glass imbedded into shelves and books at the back of her store.
“If someone was in the back of my store looking at calendars they’d be dead,” Messano said. “Thank god nobody was there. Glass was imbedded in everything. It was like a bomb went off.”
Riyan Stossel was walking near Laurie Dadourian’s Honda CRV when the gust blew. He stopped to brace himself and heard the roof rack snap.
“I heard this rip and it got flung across the street,” Stossel said. “It looked like it was heading skyward and then it dipped down and slammed into the window. It was kind of horrible.”
Stossel ran across the street to help make sure the bookstore’s products didn’t get blown away. He also helped sweep up the shattered glass across the sidewalk and underneath a car parked next to the bookstore.
From her office on Main Street at the time, Dadourian said she heard what sounded like a car crash. She looked out the window and didn’t see a wreck. A few minutes later the police arrived to give her the news.
“The arms of the car rack that go the width of the car are still on the carrier,” Dadourian said.
Chris Thorgesen boarded the window with plywood soon afterwards.
Pete Boyd, lead forecaster at the Juneau National Weather Service office, said the highest gust they measured at the airport was 24 knots, but that they measured sustained gusts of 50 knot winds in Lynn Canal near Eldred Rock. He said wind strong enough to rip a ski carrier off a roof rack is likely 50 knots or stronger.
“I don’t have a good estimate, but looking at that (damage) at least 50 knot winds looks reasonable,” Boyd said.
The bookstore will remain closed until Messano can clean and estimate the costs of damages for the insurance claim. She hopes to re-open this weekend.
“The store is shut down for a couple days,” Messano said. “There’s grit and glass everywhere.”
Thorgesen said the strong winds blew hovercrafts, parked in the lot behind the Haisler building, across the road.