Oklahoma Steel & Wire working to get back to normal
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Crew members work hard to reroute wiring to the machines to get them fully operational after the April 22 tornado damaged the business. Courtesy Photo -
OS&W crews had mere minutes after hearing the tornado sirens to get in the shelter, also called the “hidey hole.” The fast actions from the employees kept everybody safe during the Aprill 22 tornado. Courtesy Photo
It has been four weeks since a tornado ripped through Madill and touched down in a few places. The tornado tore apart J&I Manufacturing, and Holy Cross Catholic Church. It also leveled some homes on Smiley Road and damaged countless others.
Oklahoma Steel and Wire was left with massive damage from the tornado’s tyrannical rage. Kathleen Moore, OS&W owner, said the damage extended to more than just the business.
“We cannot say we were the hardest hit but we certainly sustained considerable damage of buildings and loss of production,” Moore said. “Many employee vehicles sustained severe damage.”
The tornado did not leave the employees much time to seek shelter. Moore said the county alert system helped.
“The weather warnings, county response procedures and siren warnings, along with city officials warning of storm conditions all were critical and effective in allowing ample time for our employees to fill shelter in our safe rooms,” she said.
Even though the buildings received extensive damage, it did not affect the employees’ abilities to earn a paycheck. Moore said their employees were “very open and receptive” to traveling to the Iowa facility to assist in increasing productions. This also helped in customers only experiencing minor interruptions in their deliveries.
The sirens alerted the employees in enough time for them to seek shelter in the ‘hidey hole,’ but unfortunately, a truck driver was not so fortunate. Moore said even though she was glad none of her employees were injured, she was sad to hear about the truck driver.
“We were fortunate and blessed that no one was hurt,” Moore said. “It saddened us that an outside trucking company employee did in fact lose his life from complications caused by the tornado.”
As with any disaster, OS&W had to access the damage left behind before beginning on restoring. Moore said the first thing they did was make sure all employees were safe. They spent the majority of the day of April 23 accessing the damage, then begin clean up on April 24.
“On Friday, employees were split up into different crews and different buildings and started the tear down and cleanup process,” Moore said.
Moore stated that the storm left some pretty hefty damage in its wake that they were left needing to fix.
“Most every building sustained some amount of damage,” Moore said. “Several buildings had to be torn completely down to the slab. Quite of a lot of our finished product was blown over or had mud slung on it, making it unsellable.”
The business has spent the last four weeks getting the production operational. Moore said they have been “fortunate to get some manufacturing up and running.”
She said they have placed trusses, purin and sheet metal on several buildings. Even though they have made progress in leaps and bounds since the tornado, there is still much work to be done. Moore said most areas should be operational by July 1, and she believes they will be fully restored and operational within a few more months.
Typically, when a community experiences a disaster, it brings out the giving spirit, the aftermath of this tornado was no different for Marshall County, Moore said.
She said she wanted to praise and compliment their employees to “recognize their spirit and willingness to pull together.”
Moore said she wanted to thank, “our local friends and vendors that offered food, equipment, and financial support of meals for the first two weeks of cleanup. The community support has been overwhelming, can’t thank everyone enough for all the generosity that has been shown during this tough time.”
The company’s Facebook page has been updating the community on the business’ progress through all phases of their clean up and restoration. The latest post informed the community that most of the demolition has come to an end. “One of the areas hit di
“One of the areas hit directly was the west wall of one of our galvanizing lines,” the Facebook post stated. “Today a crew removed the last of the damaged trusses of the building while another crew worked replacing sheet iron on a previously repaired structure.”
“All of our barbed wire machines are now sitting dry under a new roof that was completed yesterday, and finishing touches to that building are being completed,” the post continued. “We are still operating in a limited capacity in a few production areas as construction in ongoing overhead however most areas are starting to return to normal operation.”