Brian Donnelly was watching TV late Sunday night in his home on Lake Simcoe when he heard a loud noise.
"It sounded like the ice coming off my house and I said, 'What is that?' I got the flashlight, but I couldn't see. Then this morning I went 'That's it," Donnelly said, pointing.
He was pointing across the water to Starport Marina where you could, in the daylight, see a long, steel-roofed boathouse that houses approximately 30 boats that had collapsed.
Another resident along River Road in Ramara Township faces onto a second boathouse that fully collapsed, also housing approximately 30 boats.
Boat owners were alerted through an email and many came in their cars to Starport Marina but security posted at the gate wasn't letting anyone in.
One boat owner who came down the driveway was looking for information about his boat, but was turned away.
More people drove around to River Road to get a back view of the boathouses.
One boat owner, who didn't provide their name, was relieved to see their boat wasn't one under a collapsed roof.
Donnelly and others on the street said they've seen more traffic on their street Monday than all winter and some homeowners were allowing boaters and OrilliaMatters to take photos from their property.
In looking at the Starport Marina property from across the river, it's clear that no plowing has taken place on the land where boaters park, so it wouldn't be possible to walk there in snow more than two feet deep. Many boats had at least two feet of snow on the decks or any portions that jutted out from the boathouse.
A reporter phoned Starport Marina but no one answered the phone and there was no message service. In phoning the toll-free number for Starport (they also own Starport Severn and Starport Severn-Georgian Bay ), no one answered and there is no message service.
An email sent to Starport was not answered before publication of this story.
Starport is located at 3952 McRae Park Rd. in Ramara Township, near Orillia.