Businesses push on through storms

Businesses push on through storms

After the April 27 tornadoes and the power blackout that followed, many DeKalb industries and businesses were forced to shutter, but some pressed on to remain open and provide services through the county's darkest hours.

Arguably the most impressive of these was the Best Western Hotel in Rainsville, which sits squarely in the midst of tremendous destruction caused by an EF-4 tornado that roared through DeKalb.

The tornado completely destroyed the nearby Huddle House and badly damaged property on each and every side of the hotel, including Plainview High School and the DeKalb County Schools Coliseum, just across the street. But, somehow, the hotel not only remained standing but continued to operate in the days after the disaster.

Hotel manager Mego Shah said the hotel was scheduled to be booked solid that day as a number of people impacted by earlier storms in other parts of the state had called to make reservations. However, after tornadoes also decimated Rainsville, he said none of them came.

The hotel did still have guests that day though, but none were injured even though Shah said the tornado did clip the side of the structure.

"Despite everything, we decided to stay open mainly to accommodate the guests that were here," Mego said. "We had one lady here in a wheelchair, and she couldn't go anywhere. We just wanted to help out as much as we could."

Down the road in Fort Payne, another hotel - the Holiday Inn Express in Fort Payne - also kept its doors open for guests, despite being without power for several days. Paige Mewes, director of sales for Holiday Inn, said the hotel management never even considered closing down.

"The guests were very understanding," she said. "Most people were just very happy to have somewhere to stay. It's amazing how everybody came together and said, ‘OK, we're going to do this.' All the employees just showed up ready to go to work."

She said employees from a sister site in Gadsden came and picked up laundry from the hotel twice a day, took it to Gadsden, washed it, then brought it back.

"They were constantly bringing us supplies," she said.

Mewes said the hotel was filled to capacity and even housed a wedding party during the storms and blackout. The hotel's power went down on Wednesday, the day of the storms and returned around midnight the following Friday, just in time for the party to prepare for a Saturday noon ceremony.

It wasn't just hotels that pressed on, though - a lot of people needed places to stay, but even more were searching for food. Waffle House in Fort Payne became one of the few places one could get a hot meal during the blackout. Operating on generator power, the restaurant continued to serve food each day during the blackout until normal power returned.

Mewes was a customer there on one of the days when the Waffle House was packed to capacity.

"They were working so hard," shad said. "They were understaffed and overcrowded. I just wanted to cry for those ladies who were working in there that day, I don't know how they did it."

United Grocery Outlet also turned to generator power to serve their customers as well. Assistant Manager Nita Stevens said the generator hadn't been used in several years, but it "fired right up" and provided the grocery enough juice to power lights and cash registers. Freezer trucks were brought in to preserve the store's frozen products, and the decision was made to open.

"There were customers lined up all the way to the back of the store," she said. "We were open the entire time and what really struck me was that during it all, all the customers were very kind and patient - there was never a harsh word spoken. People were just grateful we were open and once we realized that the generator could keep us operating we wanted to be there to serve the good people of DeKalb County - we knew there were a lot of people in need of grocery items."

Eric Bruce, owner of Bruce's Foodlands across DeKalb County, said employees were able to secure a silent diesel generator at its Fort Payne location hours after DeKalb and most of North Alabama lost power and also provide customers with needed grocery items.

"We had a lot of dedicated employees helping to make things available to people," Bruce said. "We did everything we could to help folks out."

At Wal-Mart in Fort Payne, generators were also used until power was restored, but the store went without power for about 24 hours.

Service also continued on at some industries, such as Ferguson Enterprises in Fort Payne. Kim Hastings, human resources director for Ferguson, said powerful generators were installed there several years ago that allowed the plant to keep running.

She said a supplier from Anniston brought gas to power the generators.

"We had 80 percent of our employees show up on Thursday, the day immediately after the tornadoes and 90 percent show up on Friday," Hastings said. "We continued to work a normal schedule. Once we got past the emotional impact of our county being hit so hard, we pressed on to provide products to clients in multiple areas."

Those products were needed. Ferguson, a distribution center for plumbing supplies, provides products to Decatur, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa and other areas also heavily impacted by the April 27

tornadoes. They also supply sump pumps to Memphis, Tenn., where they were badly needed for use in efforts to help alleviate flooding conditions being caused by an ongoing surge of the Mississippi River.

"It really helped perk up our employees to know that we were helping people in those areas," Hastings said.

She said Ferguson employees have also been working to help locally in other ways, including volunteering at disaster relief distribution centers. She said Ferguson's management team has been travelling the county since the disaster and cooking food in various areas.

Other businesses also kept going through the blackout, including Lowes and Tractor Supply Co. in Fort Payne. Others helped in their own way. Santa Fe, in Fort Payne, rather than have food spoil, opted to give it away, asking in return for donations to the Red Cross.

"It's really amazing how everyone pulled together and weathered this crisis," Mewes said. "People everywhere really went the extra mile."