Dramatic Texas Tornados Damage Equipment at Three Truck Facilities; No Injuries Reported
This story appears in the April 9 print edition of Transport Topics.
A burst of tornados struck the Dallas area last week, severely damaging trucks and trailers at a Schneider National Inc. terminal, a truck dealer’s facility and a trailer dealer’s lot.
No workers were injured at the Lancaster facility, but about 100 pieces of equipment were damaged, Schneider spokeswoman Erin Elliot said.
When the tornado struck, 254 trucks and 204 trailers were parked in the yard, Schneider said. Lancaster is about 15 minutes south of Dallas.
Already this year, there have been dozens of destructive twisters from Illinois to Texas.
In her mid-March forecast, Accuweather.com meteorologist Meghan Evans predicted an above average tornado season.
Likewise, Harold Brooks of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Severe Storm Laboratory said the number of tornadoes have been above average this year.
Though Schneider said the terminal building itself was undamaged, the same could not be said for an adjacent MHC Kenworth truck dealership. The building’s roof was torn up in places and display glass was broken.
The real cost is in a few tractors in stock that suffered an estimated $500,000 to $750,000 in damage, said Steve Ellington, general manager of another Murphy-Hoffman Co. location in Dallas. However, Ellington cautioned these were only preliminary estimates.
The tornado also destroyed 15 trailers at a Dallas dealership of Great Dane Trailers, general manager Eddie Sarden said.
Besides handling freight, Schneider’s Lancaster terminal also refuels and repairs tractors. About 65 office and maintenance workers were on-site when the storm hit, and 200 to 300 drivers visit the facility each day, Elliot said.
The damage has interrupted operations at the Lancaster terminal, and no fueling can be done. In addition, the facility’s brand new tanker-truck that carries fuel was wrecked, a worker at the terminal said.
Dallas police officer Brian Roden, who spoke from a Flying J Travel Plaza in Lancaster, said the truck stop suffered no damage, and no trucks or trailers were overturned on the property.
Lancaster public information officer Alicia Hills-Oyedele said reports indicated about 300 structures in the town were damaged and about 150 of these are severely damaged.
