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upstate ny | The force of the grain swelling from sucking in water is immense. In 2011 we had some overflow dry shelled corn stored in a 20x60 stave silo. It was about 15' from full, figured 300-320 tons in it. Got a record setting flood and the bottom 12' was submerged. Several days after the water went down, we were near the silo cleaning up and heard what sounded like a shotgun going off. I went to look and found several broken staves that were being pushed out. We immediately got away from it, as we feared it would come down. Called a silo company and he was there that afternoon. By the time he got there, every stave all the way around the silo about 4' off the ground was broken and shifted. This guy had nerves of steel. He said no way will that silo come down unless the concrete itself crumbles. Still in disbelief we asked him to humor us and throw a bunch more hoops around the bottom to help hold the broken staves, which he did.
We then cut a hole in a door above the water line and got all the dry corn out of the silo. Then came the fun part. The remaining 75-80 tons of wet corn was packed so tight it couldnt be shoveled. I literally went around with a pick ax and my brother followed with a scoop shovel to empty it all out. And that was just one small problem on a mile long list from that flood. I really feel for the Nebraska guys. | |
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What takes the grain bins down
