Den Hartog Industries Cleans Up After Tornado

Rare November Weather Pattern Damages Metal Fabrication and Office Buildings.

HOSPERS, IA, -- A rare November tornado left structural damage Saturday to one building in the production facilities of Den Hartog Industries, Inc., a plastics manufacturer and metal fabrication company.

At around 4:30 p.m., a tornado touched down and ripped a wall and portions off the roof of the northwestern-most building in the compound. That building houses the mold-building portion of the Metal Fabrication division. The tornado then jumped up and back down onto the roof of the corporate office building, leaving a hole and sending steel scattered about the nearby neighborhoods.

“We were actually fortunate,” said John G. Den Hartog, Jr., President and CEO. “There was no one working in the facility at the time. Also, there was very little rain associated with the storm, so damage to the office and equipment was very minimal.”

Several employees and others from the community worked Saturday evening to patch the office roof with plywood until contractors could be called in. The damage to the metal fabrication building will take longer to repair.

A big concern when high winds or tornados are in the area usually centers on the hundreds of Ace Roto-Mold polyethylene tanks stored in the yard. “Funny thing is, not a tank moved,” according to Den Hartog.

With the exception of the mold-building unit, the rest of the production facilities were fully operational Monday morning.

Den Hartog Industries, which employs over 300 employees at its 275,000 square foot facilities in Northwest Iowa, is a vertically integrated company with nationwide distribution of products manufactured by its Ace Roto-Mold, Injection Molding, Blow Molding and Sowjoy (Metal Fabrication) divisions.

See related article: "Repairs from Tornado Damage Now Complete"

previous article

|  press release menu  |

next article

This aerial photo of the entire Den Hartog Industries complex, taken earlier this fall, shows the areas affected by the tornado.

A close-up of the northern-most building shows the sections that sustained damage during the November 12, 2005 tornado.