Public Facilities: We Pay Dearly for the State Allowing Flat Roofs in Gorski Kotar

Snow does not fall to cover the hill, but to show the trace of every foolishness. We still vividly remember last week’s commotion, especially in the mountainous areas.

The people of Lika and Gorski Kotar are accustomed to harsh winters, but towns and roads were buried under record snow heights, and life was in a state of emergency. It is no wonder that civil protection, police, and military came to the rescue. They mostly salvaged everything that could be saved in the first instance. However, I was surprised by the ‘mountaineering’ on the roofs of Gorski Kotar, from which civil and military personnel were shoveling excess snow day and night to prevent the collapse of the structures under the heavy weight.

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At first, I was a bit worried for the Gorski shovelers, that they might slip off the steep roofs, but I felt relieved when I saw that the critical facilities were built with very gentle slopes. And I immediately wondered: Who has been issuing building and occupancy permits for shopping centers, schools, and health centers with almost flat roofs in Gorski Kotar all these years? Are there engineers from Dalmatia employed in the county office of state administration who have never seen snow?

Interestingly, the locals did not have such problems with their houses – excess snow simply slides off their steep roofs to the ground. They have learned from time immemorial – to live with snow and build houses adapted to harsh winters. Only the public sector is able to brazenly defy nature by designing and constructing roofs that cannot withstand heavier snow.

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Thus, it is again confirmed that the initial savings of a few kuna can ultimately cause much greater damage. For the same reason, every year across Croatia, tin roofs from schools and health centers built on the logic of ‘lowest price’ explode, often without adequate supervision.

Public facilities are primarily affected by snow and wind, which we pay for from the budget three times: first for poor construction, then for emergency interventions, and finally for remediation.