A family in Ottawa's Westboro neighbourhood fled their house in a panic early Monday morning when the roof started to collapse under all the snow that fell over the weekend.

"The whole roof is gone, basically, except for the garage," said Chris Hesson. "It just pancaked onto the upper part of the ceiling, I guess."

Only the split peak remains after the roof collapsed on a house in Ottawa's Westboro area.
(CBC)

Hesson, his wife Laurie and their two children — aged 18 months and seven years — woke up at 5 a.m. when they heard creaking noises from above.

"All of a sudden, the whole thing came down, and the kids started screaming, and we grabbed what we could … and got in the car," Hesson said.

Part of the kitchen ceiling came down, and there are huge cracks in the walls, and the walls are pushed out, he said.

The family is staying with relatives while city engineers examine the house on Keenan Avenue to determine what caused the collapse.

"The engineers won't let us in, so we just escaped with what we had on our backs," Hesson said.

The family didn't get a good look at the extent of the damage until the sun came up.

"Luckily, it didn't come crashing right into the house itself, where we were in a room or anything like that," Hesson said.