The second shift at General Motors Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky ended late Friday and some 400 workers filed out into the night.
But 20 or 30 remained inside the plant when, in the early morning hours Saturday, alarms inside the factory sounded.
The workers knew what it meant: Head to a designated shelter in the basement, said Jason Watson, shop chairman for UAW Local 2164, which represents the hourly workers at Bowling Green Assembly located about an hour north of Nashville, Tennessee.
Within minutes a tornado touched down, tearing through the community with Bowling Green Assembly right in its path. The National Weather Service in Louisville estimated the tornado’s windspeed in Bowling Green at 150 mph.
“Thankfully all the systems in the plant worked,” Watson told the Free Press. “The take-shelter alerts that are broadcast … people took cover and once the all-clear sounded they were permitted to go home. None of them said they were scared, because they couldn’t tell what was going on. When you’re in the basement, a bomb could go off and you wouldn’t hear it.”
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But above ground, the plant’s roof was on fire. There was sustainable damage to the building’s shell, said Watson.
GM builds the popular Corvette sports car at Bowling Green, but this week production is idled and all 1,200 of those on the assembly line are laid off. About 90 skilled trades workers remain on the job, Watson said.
GM calls on Factory ZERO
GM confirmed the fire was a result of the tornado.
The fire damaged the facility, including the roof and an employee entrance.
“The small number of employees that were onsite are all safe,” said GM spokesman David Barnas.
He said the plant shutdown is “only announced as down for this week at this point.”
Barnas said GM was assessing and repairing damage. In the past 48 hours, GM has moved materials and resources from other GM locations to Bowling Green.
That includes construction cranes from Spring Hill Assembly in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and materials from Factory ZERO in Detroit and Hamtramck, where GM just finished retooling to make all-electric vehicles starting with the 2022 GMC Hummer EV pickup that is in production now.
On Monday UAW Local 22 President Wiley Turnage, who leads the local that represents union workers at Factory ZERO, declined to comment about Factory ZERO’s efforts to help Bowling Green saying, “it’s all still coming together.”
Watson said whatever supplies Bowling Green gets from other facilities will help.
“GM is doing construction at Factory ZERO and Spring Hill, (and) we’re obviously in need of building materials here,” Watson said. “Trying to find building supplies, especially now in this area, will not be very fruitful.”
Also, GM can’t assess any interior plant damage until it fixes the exterior damage, Watson said.
“There’s all kinds of visible damage throughout the building and structural things,” Watson said. “The building itself is what they’re trying to concentrate on because there are multiple areas of the roof that were compromised and various siding surrounding the plant. They can’t determine yet if there’s damage to equipment or line, they’re not turning it on yet.”
$1 million to Red Cross
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a Monday afternoon update that 74 people in the state have been confirmed dead. But over 100 people remain unaccounted for and both numbers were expected to grow.
Watson, who lives 20 miles south of the plant — out of the tornado’s path — said his union members are still reaching out to the local union leadership and as far as he knows no one was injured. But some have lost parts of their homes.
“Our union hall has spearheaded all of those efforts to determine who may need help or what kind of help may be needed,” Watson said.
Meanwhile, GM made a $1 million donation to the American Red Cross in reaction to the tornadoes that tore through Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee during the weekend.
“GM is a long-standing partner of the American Red Cross, which is working around the clock with local partners to make sure that those who have been impacted by the tornadoes have a safe place to stay, food to eat, critical relief supplies, emotional support and comfort,” GM spokeswoman Kristen Ackerman said in a statement.
This donation is in addition to GM’s annual contribution of $500,000 to the American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program.
Ackerman said GM also provided a $500,000 grant to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, an organization that gets resources together for long-term recovery in regions affected by catastrophic weather.
“Through GM Cares, our internal employee giving platform, employees are able to contribute to relief efforts in Kentucky, Missouri and other impacted regions,” Ackerman said. “We’ve highlighted several organizations in those regions that are actively engaged in relief efforts to help provide shelter, food, critical relief and emotional support to impacted individuals.”
GM’s plant managers are also working with organizations in the Bowling Green area to find out how employees can best help the community.
Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.