High winds delay Cape Girardeau Habit house move

High winds delayed Tuesday's planned move of a Habitat for Humanity house down Broadway to its new location at 1640 N. Main St.

Cape Area Habitat for Humanity leaders had arrived at the parking lot near the Southeast Missouri State University campus early Tuesday morning to prepare for the move. However, wind gusts were forecast to reach 47 mph, forcing the organization's leaders to delay the move until today.

Cape Area Habitat for Humanity executive director Lowell Peterson said wind gusts needed to be lower than 10 mph for the move to safely take place. He said the gusty winds could have spun the structure suspended by cables attached to a crane, making the situation unsafe.

Today's forecast is partly sunny, with winds gusting to between 3 and 9 mph.

"Pretty much everything up until this point went off without any problems," Peterson said. "But even though we would have preferred moving the home today, it wasn't worth taking a chance."

T. Robin Cole, president of Cape Area Habitat for Humanity, echoed the thought.

"The emphasis is on safety first," Cole said. "Despite the delay, this project has been a great success and we've had the community's support. We've been as pleased as we can possibly be."

From March 7 to 21, about 300 volunteers worked as many as 12 hours a day to complete the exterior of the home. Most of the workers were Southeast students, including 70 from the school's construction management department.

The plan was to split the 1,240-square-foot home into two parts Tuesday and transport it from a parking lot at 920 Broadway to its permanent location on North Main Street. When the trailer reached the home site, the first section would have been lifted onto the basement walls. The trailer would then return to repeat the process.

But when the crane operator arrived at the parking lot late Tuesday morning he determined the second part should instead be placed on the basement walls first.

"That was something we hadn't planned for," Cole said. "He told us that a tree was very close to where the second part of the home would be.

"Therefore, the location of the tree would have made it too difficult to put the first section down initially as planned and then fit the second part in there," he said. "Since the first part of the home was already on top of the trailer, we wanted to bring in a second trailer that would be short enough to make it down Broadway."

Cole said one trailer belongs to crane operator Al Moss. Leaders found the second crane Tuesday afternoon a company in Blomeyer, Mo.

Cole said the plan is to start loading part of the house onto the first trailer at 8 a.m. today. The move is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.

Installation of drywall, cabinets, plumbing and electrical lines in the home should be complete within six to 10 weeks, Cole said. It will be the 37th home Habitat has constructed in Cape Girardeau since the organization began building homes in 1986.

Ashlei Sterling, who along with her husband, John, and their four children will move into the home, expressed disappointment in the delay.

"I'm devastated," Sterling said. "But sometimes rain and other poor weather conditions force plans to be put off when building a home. We're just thankful that we'll have a home."

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628

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Pertinent addresses:

920 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

1640 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, MO