Graham Seed damaged by tornado
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Two massive metal, wood-framed buildings were heavily damaged late Wednesday when a tornado struck the Graham Seed Cleaning complex. No injuries were reported.
One large building was destroyed and more than half of another was leveled early Thursday morning after what was confirmed Thursday afternoon as an EF-1 tornado struck the Graham Seed Cleaning complex on the eastern edge of Graham in southwest Nodaway County.
Matt Rosenbohm, son of owners Kevin and Michele Rosenbohm, said the storm hit late Wednesday and was in fact a tornado. However, Rosenbohm said he did not witness the funnel cloud.
Rosenbohm said the sprawling agri-business facility was deserted when the storm arrived, and that no one was injured.
However, damage to two of the complex’s three main structures and their contents was severe.
One of the wood-frame metal buildings, which Rosenbohm said was 65 feet wide and 450 feet long, was destroyed. Two-thirds of a similar structure, this one 1,000 feet long, was also essentially leveled.
Stacks of plastic-encased soybean seeds were exposed to the elements after the buildings came down, and Rosenbohm estimated that at least a half-million pounds of seed may have been affected, the equivalent of about 10 semi-trailer loads.
He said the exposed seed was being taken to an elevator, where it would be dumped out and evaluated for possible salvage.
The storm also caused considerable damage to farm implements and other heavy equipment stored at the business, including a John Deere tractor, a Vermeer hay bailer, a highway tractor, four semi-trailers, a mechanized loader and a self-propelled sprayer.
Rosenbohm said some of the equipment sustained heavy damage, but that all or most of it was probably salvageable.
“I don’t believe there were any total losses,” he said.
Rosenbohm said the business was closed Thursday as the family took stock of the damage, spoke with its insurance company and began clearing away the rubble. He said he was unsure when Graham Seed, which has about a half-dozen full-time employees, will re-open.
Wednesday night’s severe weather was eerily similar to a late-summer windstorm that struck Graham, a small town of less than 200 people, less than a year ago.
On the night of Sept. 9, 2014, a storm system producing high winds, heavy rain and dime-sized hail caused heavy damage to the Nodaway-Holt R-VII high school and middle school, located on the west side of town less than a half-mile from Graham Seed, which stands several hundred yards to the east.
This week’s twister was part of a line of thunderstorms that swept through the county west to east, bringing heavy rains that lasted well into Thursday morning.
As much as nine inches of rainfall was reported in the Stanberry area. Maryville received about five inches, though heavier rains were reported to the east and south only a few miles from the city limits.
Flash flooding was widespread along creeks and rivers, many of which escaped their banks, flowing into already sodden fields.
There were also reports of minor flooding in parts of Maryville, and Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White said rising waters washed over several highways, including Highway 148 near Hopkins, the Highway 71/Icon Road intersection north of Maryville, Route U at Arkoe, and Highway 46 between Highway 113 and Route PP.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
At least a half-million pounds of soybean seeds were exposed to the elements overnight Wednesday after a tornado struck the Graham Seed Cleaning complex. The sprawling facility is located on the eastern edge of Graham on Echo Road.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Plastic-encased soybean seeds are shown stacked amidst the rubble left behind after a tornado struck Graham Seed Cleaning Wednesday night. Exposed to heavy rainfall, the seed was to be taken to an elevator Thursday and evaluated for possible salvage.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
This John Deere tractor and Vermeer hay bailer were among several pieces of heavy equipment damaged when an EF-1 tornado struck Graham Seed Cleaning in southwestern Nodaway County. Though all of one building and more than half of another at the large agri-business compound were demolished, there were no injuries.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
A highway tractor stands surrounded by large plastic crates scattered across the concrete pad of a Graham Seed Cleaning building destroyed Wednesday night by an EF-1 tornado.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Semi-trailers stand parked near a destroyed building at Graham Seed Cleaning. The large agri-business complex remained closed Thursday as its owners, the Rosenbohm family, began assessing the damage caused Wednesday night by an EF-1 tornado.
