A large section of the roof was blown off the top of Montreal's Maurice Richard Arena Thursday by powerful winds.
Part of the roof, about the size of a couple of school buses, tumbled down the side of an exterior wall onto some trees. Officials did not report any injuries.
Sylvain Cuillerier, a spokesman for Montreal's fire department, said a 20-metre by 30-metre section of the roof was blown off the top of the arena.
Several members of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½'s national short track speed skating team, which trains at the arena, gathered outside the building to survey the damage. They wondered whether their scheduled training session this morning would still be a go.
"Nothing's confirmed yet. I have no clue, but my guess is they might have to test the roof to make sure," said Liam McFarlane, a team member for the last six years and a former Olympic alternate.
"Maybe we'll be off a day. We're heading off to Calgary in a week so, either way, we'll have ice."
The sounds of twisting, vibrating metal echoed through the area hours after firefighters said the incident occurred.
At one point, a piece of sheet metal, around the size of a small coffee table, bounced down the street at high speed, like a tumbleweed.
The rink, adjacent to the Olympic Stadium, has served as the home of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½'s national shorttrack speedskating team.
It opened in the early 1960s, was a venue for events at the 1976 Summer Olympics and has played host to junior hockey over the decades.
The arena has a capacity of 4,750.
It is perhaps best known locally for the statue of Richard, a legendary player with the Montreal Canadiens, in front of the building.
Dozens of people in the residential area gathered at the scene behind the police tape.
Police closed a nearby métro station and structural engineers were inside the building.
Scaffolding was sprawled on the lawn.
