As an F-5 tornado began to form near Joplin, Mo., around dinner time on Sunday, May, 22, the tornado sirens went off only 20 minutes before the tornado hit. The three-quarter-mile-wide tornado left 141 dead, cut a six-mile swath crushing nearly a third of the southwest Missouri city, and pounded 2,000 buildings, self storage facilities among them. Within a matter of seconds, your self storage facility could be without power, phones, cell service and the Internet. And the threat of catastrophic damage to the building is extreme. Tornadoes have battered the country this spring, killing more than 500 people, mostly in the south. Twisters have even struck in Michigan, Massachusetts and North Carolina. Experts warn businesses to be prepared for when nature strikes.
Crawford Collins, owner of White Oak Self Storage in Jacksonville, NC, which contains 48 units, was devastated by the damage.
“I just broke down and cried,” Collins said. “That was all I could do,” he told local jdnews.com. “The roof is gone, buildings are gone, it’s totaled.”
Collins said he has been building up the business over the last 18 to 19 years and was working on retirement. He said he had just learned his insurance will not cover all of the damage or clean up all the debris.
“It really upsets me,” he said. “… I thought I still had coverage for all that.”
Self Storage operators should take heed of the destruction tornadoes can cause and be prepared. The biggest tornadoes can leave just tangled remains of cars and trucks, can rip homes and businesses off their foundations and tear the leaves, branches and even the bark off trees.
Even Canada isn’t immune to the recent devastation of tornadoes. An RV storage facility in Smithers, British Columbia, had its walls and roof entirely blown off. Luckily it was the time of year when his lot was fairly empty and he had only two RVs which incurred only minor damage from 12x12 beams that fell on top.
"I've had the property for 10 years,” facility owner Sheldon Armitage told bclocalnews.com. “I've got an active rental facility here for storing RVs. I'm just thankful that if we had this twister come through here three weeks ago there would have probably been a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment that would have been damaged because people have their motor homes, fifth-wheels and everything else in here."
The recent tornadoes should be a wake up call for preparedness to self storage operators, according to Matthew Van Horn, vice president of Cutting Edge Self-Storage Management, a full-service management company specializing in management, feasibility studies, consulting and joint ventures within the self-storage industry.
Van Horn said there are three key elements to being prepared for the next tornado, hurricane or fire:
• Develop a Disaster plan. Each operator should have set procedures for what to do in any disaster situation.
• Acquire facility insurance. Every operator should review his facility’s insurance policy with his provider on an annual basis. Make sure you’re covered for unexpected situations.
• Offer tenant insurance. Consider working with a tenant-insurance company to offer this crucial insurance to your customers.
The last thing a self storage operator wants is to be taken by surprise. Being prepared is essential to handling natural disasters to the best of your ability. But sometimes luck has more to do with survival than anything else. Van Horn oversees the operations of three facilities in the Joplin, Mo., area where the winds from the tornado hit 198 mph. Only one of his facilities suffered cosmetic damage, but three nearby competing storage facilities as well as a Home Depot and Wal-Mart were torn apart. A 19-year-old woman told the New York Times she lived through the storm by clinging to a urinal inside the Wal-Mart store. The death toll continues to rise in Joplin and president Obama has offered his condolences and has sent FEMA to work in affected areas.
Sources Used:
Van Horn, Matthew. “Lessons From Joplin, Mo., for Self-Storage Operators.” Inside Self-Storage. May 23, 2011.
“A Rush to Protect Patients, Then Bloody Chaos.” The New York Times. May 23, 2011.
Ulbrich, Suzanne. “Local Businesses Affected by Tornado Work on Clean Up.” Jdnews.com. April 22, 2011.
“Death Toll From Joplin Tornado Rises to 141: Officials.” Reuters.com. June 6, 2011.