Grain Facilities Begin to Come Back Online
Most elevators should be able to resume full operations shortly after personnel are allowed to return to the region.
Compiled by staff
Published: Oct 3, 2005
Just over a week after a second major hurricane swept through the Gulf of Mexico, grain facilities in most of the region's ports have resumed loading U.S. grain onto vessels headed to destinations around the world. The Port of New Orleans and the Port of Houston both reported little to no damage from Hurricane Rita.
On September 29, navigation restrictions were lifted on the Lower Mississippi River, opening it to two-way traffic around the clock. In Houston, ships with drafts up to 40 feet are allowed in the Houston Ship Channel, which is also open to 24 hour navigation.
The Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) has reported their offices in Texas and New Orleans are operational, with the exception of the offices in Beaumont, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, where the condition of the FGIS offices and the grain export facilities is unknown.
Preliminary reports indicate that export grain elevators located at the Texas Gulf sustained only minimal physical damage from Hurricane Rita. According to Randy Gordon, vice president of communications and government relations at the National Grain and Feed Association, "most, if not all, will be able to resume full operations shortly after personnel are allowed to return to the region following the mandatory evacuation order issued for several areas prior to the advancing storm."
"Most of the elevators in the region had suspended operations on late on Wednesday afternoon, September 21, in response to evacuation orders issued in advance of the approaching storm," Gordon explains. "The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Federal Grain Inspection Service, whose personnel inspect and weigh U.S. export grain, also closed its offices in the region."
"Resumption of operations will depend upon the restoration of power, the lifting of mandatory evacuation orders and the availability of gasoline to enable inhabitants to return to the region," Gordon adds.
It is difficult to say when people will be able to return to the hardest hit areas in Texas, especially around Beaumont. According to the latest statement from Texas Governor Rick Perry, posted on the state's Rita Web site, "state and local emergency officials continue to develop a plan for the safe return of evacuees to communities east of the Houston area that sustained the most damage from Hurricane Rita."
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