From Total Loss to Recovery: Restoring Operations After a Major Tornado
Case study from the archive · First published in 2011
A rainy, overcast Saturday afternoon in Raleigh, North Carolina. For the customers and staff of the Ferguson branch on Yonkers Road, it was a day like any other. Then suddenly … a loud noise … like from a freight train thundering past. The walls shake. The roof caves in. And the sky becomes as black as night …
Ferguson is North America’s largest provider of plumbing supplies and also the second largest distributor of pipes, valves, fittings, as well as products for water works, heating and air conditioning. With 1,350 sales outlets across North America and the Caribbean, it’s not only the first port of call for any number of customers, but on this occasion it was a target of the incalculable forces of nature: a tornado. And when a tornado hits, it’s more merciless than all the customers in the world!
Tornado Damage Causes Major Business Interruption
Gone with the wind: In April 2011, one of the biggest tornado fronts in the USA’s history – measuring one and a half kilometres – brings a wide corridor of devastation to the urban area around Raleigh and Durham. One of the “wind devils”, travelling at some 265 kilometres an hour, strikes just a few metres outside Ferguson’s display warehouse. It sucks up everything that isn’t nailed down: the roof of the adjacent warehouse is torn from its concrete foundations and thrown onto the roof of the salesroom.
The electricity goes out, the gas supply is disrupted and water begins teeming from the battered sprinkler system. Staff and customers stand in utter chaos. But at least they’re standing! With wise foresight, the branch manager Mike Cassidy has told them to take refuge in the centre of the building. As a result, nobody is injured.
“All of the sudden, it sounded like a freight train.”
Mike Cassidy, Ferguson’s branch manager
Emergency Response and Damage Assessment
One hour later: Just an hour later, BELFOR was on site to assess the extent of the devastation and to stabilise the building. There’s no doubt about it: the damage is serious. In the words of Ferguson’s Managing Director, Sharon Cooper, who arrived three hours after the storm: “When I arrived at the store, I only thought: Wow – this is serious! The roof was gone, and from a structural perspective, the building looked like a heap of ruins.”
“Wow – this is serious.”
Sharon Cooper, Managing Director of Ferguson
One day later: Despite the devastation, employees of the Raleigh municipal administration department declare the building safe to access by the next day. However, the safety of employees and customers – as well as the security of the building and the stock – has to be guaranteed. The company chosen to take care of it all is BELFOR. “BELFOR made a brilliant first impression. The representatives were on site quicker than anyone else, and were not only extremely professional, but also had a real understanding of customer focus”, says Sharon Cooper, explaining her decision.
Business Continuity Measures to Keep Operations Running
The show must go on! Despite the immense damage, Ferguson pulls out every stop to ensure that service remains uninterrupted for its loyal customers. Just 48 hours after the storm, a new temporary location is found – just a few minutes away from the original site on Yonkers Road. But first, all the stock that is still usable has to be taken to the new store warehouse. “We carried countless pipes”, says Edward Pearce, a BELFOR specialist assessor, “because we had to do everything humanly possible to get the store back up and running again.”
After three weeks, the interim warehouse and sales counter are ready to open. In order to be prepared for the increased demand from customers, eight further Ferguson stores in the region stock up their warehouse goods. As a result, all of the goods ordered in Raleigh can be shipped without delays.
Disaster Recovery and Commercial Property Restoration
Taking the wind out of the storm’s sails: The restoration work on the old sales room on Yonkers Road begins immediately, after it has been classified by the insurance department as a “total write-off”. In the first phase of the project, BELFOR begins with the selective dismantling of the roof and supporting framework, transporting countless truckloads of rubble away. Then the rebuilding work begins. Architects, engineers and a 40 to 60-strong BELFOR team are on site every day to take away the old roof and rebuild it completely from scratch.
New electrical cables, alarm systems and sprinkler systems are also installed. After around two months, the first phase of the project is complete. “The biggest challenges for us were the size of the building, the volume of stock we had to take out and the timeframe available for completing the project”, says Pearce.
Building Back Better: Recovery Beyond Restoration
Teaching old dogs new tricks: No matter how destructive the disaster is, it has a somewhat constructive element to it too: the opportunity to not just restore things, but to make them better than before. BELFOR undertakes this challenge in the reconstruction of the interior and the exterior façade: as well as a restored exhibition space and a new store counter, new office and meeting rooms are built and changes are made to the design of the loading ramp. The entire project is set to be completed in the autumn of 2011. Then, the Ferguson branch in Raleigh will be ready for any storm of customers!
Business Continuity Planning and Priority Disaster Response: RED ALERT®
In the southeast of the USA, the battle against tornados has widened to become a battle on many fronts in recent years. Just one week after the storm in Raleigh, a further tornado cuts a swathe of destruction through Guntersville, Alabama. The town also has a Ferguson branch specialising in fire safety and protection. Everything is flattened! Once again, BELFOR jumps to the rescue and starts the clean-up operation right away. But Ferguson – “shaken to the core” by the storms – goes one step further and joins BELFOR’s “RED ALERT® Priority Response Program”.
“The fact that someone is ready to spring into action and has us at the top of their list of priorities is not only of major importance for our disaster assistance, but also for the continuity of our business,” says Mary Jo Weier, Manager of Insurance at Ferguson Enterprises Inc., explaining the decision to join RED ALERT®.
