A rash of storms in Texas characterized by hurricane-force winds surpassing 70 miles per hour and baseball-sized hail left more than 1 million businesses and homes without power Tuesday. On top of that, a large commercial warehouse 30 miles east of Dallas had part of its roof cave in because of the heavy storm activity.
The Madix warehouse in Terrell, Tex., suffered “extensive damage,” according to Kaufman County emergency management coordinator, Steve Howie. The emergency management team reported that the facility’s side was blown in, and that it endured a partial roof collapse.
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A tornado touchdown has not been ruled out, although has not been confirmed.
A video courtesy of local CBS news affiliate KTVT-TV shows that a heavy portion of the damage came at the receiving area of the warehouse, which is the designated area where incoming goods are processed. Tim Anders, the photojournalist covering the site, said the receiving area “has been peeled back like a banana.”
The 1.07-million-square-foot warehouse, which is where the company manufactures its store fixtures, also serves as the company’s headquarters. There have been no reports on any injuries or deaths due to the damage to the facility.
There is no known timetable for the warehouse’s renovation.
Sourcing Journal reached out to Madix.
Madix works in partnership with retailers and national brands in a range of industries to design and facilitate the use of fixtures and racks for retail stores.
The company offers in-store solutions for apparel and footwear retailers alike, manufacturing modular fitting rooms, shoe fixtures, apparel racks and queueing solutions, all in an effort to help them improve their merchandising capabilities.
Storms lasted through early Wednesday morning, the Dallas-Fort Worth area was swamped by localized flooding that swept across much of the state’s southern plains, which have already dealt with a sweltering heatwave.
“Thunderstorms over Central Texas will gradually diminish this morning, while additional storms will roll in from the west,” the National Weather Service said in an advisory Wednesday. “A few strong to severe storms are possible.”
The advisory added that multiple rounds of thunderstorms were expected Thursday through Friday, some of which “may be severe and contain heavy rain.”
The recent storms were not limited to Texas, leaving a trail of destruction across seven states in total, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Missouri, resulting in the deaths of at least 24 people.
Power was being restored in Texas, but almost 450,000 energy customers were still in the dark Wednesday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. Another 70,000 customers remained in the dark across Kentucky, Arkansas, Virginia and Missouri.
The Madix incident is one in a string of rough weather dustups in southern and midwestern states over the past month.
At the end of April, a Dollar Tree distribution center in Marietta, Okla. took a direct hit from a tornado that ripped the warehouse open at one of its corners. The damage from the tornado expanded all the through to the center of the building.
The 1-million-square-foot building, which resides roughly 15 miles from the Oklahoma-Texas border, supplies products to about 600 stores across 11 states, including all of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, and portions of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.
That distribution center remains closed, with the discount retailer currently using other distribution centers to support stores in the region.
More than a week after a tornado ravaged the Dollar Tree warehouse, another tornado ripped through a FedEx Ground facility in Portage, Mich. All employees at the warehouse were safe.
The company is implementing contingency plans, including diverting incoming shipments to the 320,000-square-foot facility to lessen the impacts on service while it remains closed, FedEx said.
