AUGUSTA – Most of the 300 workers at a leased Maine Department of Health and Human Services building off Civic Center Drive were sent home Wednesday morning after discovering deformed ceiling panels caused by the weight of snow on the roof.

John Martins, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the building was evacuated after someone noticed some sagging within the building.

“It was recommended that the most prudent thing to do would be to evacuate the building and to get the load on the building reduced some,” Martins said. “It was not a roof collapse, it was only a slight sag.”

Martins said workers were shoveling off the roof of the building “with the goal of returning to business-as-usual in the morning.”

– Rebekah Metzler