After 54 years of snow, sun, and ice, the metal skin on the domed roof of the Maurice Richard arena has taken quite a beating.

But it took a mighty gust of wind to rip a lot of it off last night, leaving a crumpled pile of aluminum sheeting on the side of the roof, some of it hanging over and flapping in the wind.

That's made the work a little easier for contractors who started renovating and repairing the roof two days ago. They had already taken off more than half of the membrane. Now they're working on stabilizing the demaged metal, taking it down and cutting it up.

Director of building infrastructure for the city Michel Nadeau says a large security perimeter was set up and the nearby Viau metro shut down.

"Which is exactly why the metro station is closed, it's just in case. In this particular event, you don't want hundreds of people coming out of the metro station in case something flies off," Nadeau told reporters.

The work should be done in a day and the arena back in business in the morning. An investigation is underway.

Photos: Shuyee Lee