By Paul Minnis, The Republic
pminnis@therepublic.com
Mariah Foods reopened its bacon production department Wednesday, and its remaining departments should reopen in two or three weeks, company officials said.
Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman on Wednesday toured the 1333 Indiana Ave. facility, which she first visited two days after the flood, when damage looked nearly insurmountable.
She marveled Wednesday about the dramatic improvement and referred to Mariah employees as miracle workers.
"It's really just phenomenal what you've done," Skillman said.
About 40 employees worked 10- to 12-hour shifts since the flood to clean and fix the building, access roads, parking lots, and other areas, said Bill Jones, Mariah's assistant general manager.
One of the employees' husbands helped with a backhoe, and Force Construction used a front loader to help rebuild roads.
Officials were working with the city, Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about a broken levee which caused the flooding.
Jones said eight more employees were called back to work Wednesday, and another 10 to 15 would return today, all to work on bacon production.
Mariah laid off about 200 workers, who have been collecting unemployment checks, Jones said. All will be called back to work when the facility returns to full production, he said.
He estimated Mariah's total flood losses at $5 million, which includes $1.5 million in food products and $1 million in packing supplies and materials.
Insurance picked up $2 million of the total bill.
Mariah, which also operates a retail store on Stadler Drive, was established in 1929 as Stadler Meat Packing Co. Mariah bought the facility in 1984.
After decades of slaughtering and rendering, Mariah since 1994 only has processed and packed.
Workers on Wednesday injected pork bellies with brine and smoked them, Jones said. Today, they and the returned employees will slice the meat into bacon.
He said Mariah's other five or six production departments will resume operation when damaged equipment is fixed or replaced.