Disaster Recovery News

The staff of the Surry County Chapter of the Red Cross in North Carolina found they were the ones needing help this weekend. Pipes in the ceiling burst and flooded the whole building. Frigid temperatures caused the break in the pipes.

The executive director of the Red Cross Chapter took measures to prevent the break in the pipes by turning up the heat in the building. She also left the lights in the attic of the building on in hopes that the heat produced would keep the pipes warm enough. Nevertheless, leaving lights on in a building is not enough to prevent pipes from bursting. This was made obvious from the ceiling tiles and insulation that were destroyed by the water.

Read the full story.

If you have a small business or run a small office, find out how one can prepare for flooding. One can also see tips about how to recover wet documents after a flood.

Video about the fire at the View Point Inn, as seen in the Twilight movie

A fire broke out Sunday night at the historic View Point Inn in Corbett, OR. Carl Linde built the Inn in 1924 for Grace Palmer. The Inn is on the National Register of Historic Places. This is also where the prom scene was filmed in the popular movie, Twilight.

The fire started within the walls of the kitchen and spread to the floors above it. The kitchen is currently out of service because of the blaze. The basement and a second-floor room have also been damaged.

Co-owner, Geoff Thompson, reported, “We had a great dinner and then smoke started coming out of the kitchen’s light fixtures.”

Angelo Simione, the other co-owner of the View Point Inn, stated to KPTV: “(It’s) very disheartening to see the damage like this. We’re working day by day just to keep this place going, to keep the business going. Small business has been hurt pretty badly, so this fire is the last thing we needed.”

Like Simione stated, business continuity is greatly affected after a disaster like a fire. One of the first things business owners should do after a disaster is contact a fire restoration specialist who can help restore important documents and the structure of the building. More on business continuity and fire damage recovery.

Learn more about creating a disaster plan for your business.