Central Missouri AgriService rebuilding Slater facility with $5M restoration after April tornado

SLATER, Mo. (KMIZ)

It has been a busy past six months for Central Missouri AgriService's Slater location in Saline County, according to manager Tedd Wiseman.

After an EF-2 tornado tore through CMAS's grain elevators and damaged eight bins in April, the agricultural supply and grain-handling company has been working through a hefty cleanup and rebuilding process.

"Clean up was strenuous," Wiseman wrote in an email. "It took about 16 days straight cleaning up the soybeans that were in a couple of the heavily damaged bins, our crew here at CMAS worked long hours to get our grain picked up and hauled to another location."

About 10,000 bushels of beans were lost, a low figure according to Wiseman, because of how diligently the team worked to salvage supply.

The damaged bins and spilled supply were cleared by late spring. CMAS was then left to figure out how to rebuild.

"We have taken advantage of the tragic event to upgrade our receiving equipment as well as our load out," Wiseman wrote.

The rebuild will look completely different than before the storm. The familiar landscape residents once drove past, of eight tall bins, will be no more. After a more than $5 million restoration, two larger bins will house commodities.

These more modern bins will be 60 and 105 feet in diameter, respectively, and hold 300,000 bushels more than the eight lost, Wiseman said.

The total rebuild should be complete by the end of the year.

Check back for updates.