Texas Distributor ‘Rebuilds’ After Tornado By Traci Matt STAFF WRITER Dottie Robere and Billy Sharp have added a new definition to the term auto electric rebuilding after an early morn- ing tornado on May 13 devastated their Bryan, Texas parts warehouse. They have spent the past few weeks literally rebuilding their business. “We live about a mile from the ware- house and didn’t even hear the storm,’ said Robere, who manages the office for 11-year-old Armature Sales and Rebuilders Group. “This could have been so much worse. Even an hour later and we would have been there. That would have been bad. There’s no base- ments in Texas.” Their first indication anything was wrong was when they pulled up in front of the 50-by-275-foot warehouse. The tornado had knocked out a 45-foot sec- tion of the roof, 10 of 12 overhead doors, and all the skylights. “They said the tornado wasn’t even that big. But it flung barrels, branches, trees into the building and the wind blew the doors in. It could have leveled our building but it didn’t,” said Robere. Another business in the area and several Approximately $5 million worth of parts were soaked after a tornado ripped apart the Armature Sales and Rebuilders Group warehouse. After weeks of meticulous cleanup, employees saved most of the inventory. homes also suffered damage. “Billy and I just looked at each other and he said ‘Let’s go home.’ Then we got there and after about five minutes he said, “What are we doing, we can save some of that.’” So they headed back to the warehouse and began salvaging what they could of their inventory. Then came the rain—fifteen inches of it. “The heavy rain after the tornado was what was bad,’ said Sharp. Although the building is in a good spot to avoid flooding, they still had to drag parts out of six to eight inches of rain pooled on the floor. Other parts were soaked by driving rains coming through the roof and broken skylights. “There were armatures, rotors, sta- tors, drives, solenoids, everything that a wholesaler has. Of course armatures, rotors and stators when they get wet, you’ve got to dry them immediately,” she said. So they began the arduous task of taking parts out of boxes, towel- drying them, spraying them with WD 40, and then air-drying them. After five days of nonstop cleanup they made it to the field coils, which had become moldy, but even they “cleaned right up.” Their employees—and even one employee’s wife and three children— pitched in to help with the cleanup effort. The community even stepped up 7 ei D 7 ois – as A May tornado ripped off doors and roofing, and flung barrels and debris into this Texas warehouse. Thankfully, no one was hurt.