Tornado Strikes Technology Warehouse

×

❮

❯

On the night of March 2 and into the early morning of March 3, 2020, a large storm produced ten tornadoes across southeast Missouri, southern Kentucky, Tennessee, and central Alabama. One of these storms was an EF3 tornado that traveled approximately 50 miles. In Mount Juliet, TN, a large warehouse that contained financial, technical equipment was caught in its reckless path. The warehouse experienced partial damage to the roof, which allowed water and debris to expose approximately $30M worth of equipment.

Replacement of the equipment was not considered due to the sheer quantity of the affected inventory, and also, most of the equipment was manufactured abroad. Due to the extent of damage to the facility, the equipment was moved off-site to a nearby rented warehouse for inspection and testing. 36 semi-trucks a day were moving pallets. Since the technology company needed the equipment to function correctly to resume production as swiftly as possible, AREPA designed a unique recovery workflow to optimize all equipment's organization, documentation, registration, and separation. Time was of the essence to mitigate further damage since rusting is a major concern when water exposes susceptible metal parts.

Replacement lead times could have brought the business to a halt. Decontamination of the compromised equipment was the most cost-effective option and the best-case scenario for time efficiency. Due to the organization of the project, AREPA successfully completed the project as scheduled, and operations resumed.