The severe storm that tore through the Midwest on Monday knocked out electricity to Kinder Morgan’s Argo ethanol terminal in Illinois and shut down a large corn-processing complex in Iowa, reports the Hellenic Shipping News.
The derecho, with winds gusting up to more than 100 mph, left nearly 7,000 customers in the Chicago area without power, including the Argo terminal.
Kinder Morgan spokeswoman Lexey Long said in an Aug. 11 email that the company’s Argo terminal was operating on backup generator power. The company is working with customers to handle any impacts on service, and is working with Commonwealth Edison to determine when power will be restored.
ADM’s Cedar Rapids, IA, corn-processing facility also was offline on Aug. 11. ADM spokeswoman Jackie Anderson in a statement to Platts said the company was inspecting the plant, which was idled in April, for any storm-related damage.
The Minneapolis StarTribune reports Monday's storm also damaged a silo at Cargill Inc.’s oilseed-processing plant. Cargill has been without power at the facility for the past two days.
“We don’t know yet when operations will resume,” a Cargill spokeswoman said. “Thankfully, all employees at our Cedar Rapids locations are safe.”
The Des Moines Register reports that across Iowa, the storm hit about 10 million acres of crops. The Iowa Department of Agriculture said the storm affected roughly a third of the state, which grows about 32 million acres of corn, soybeans and other crops.
Gov. Kim Reynolds said farmers have told her the damage "has just been devastating ... they have never seen anything like this."
