Loup Generator - Spring 2019

An hour later, Loup officials
activated the Emergency Action
Plan, which called for evacuations
of residents in the high-hazard area
near the canal.
By 3:30 a.m., Zarek, also a
volunteer firefighter, began knocking
on doors just as the storm’s winds
and snow hit the area.
“We were sandbagging in t-shirts.
Two hours later, everybody was
looking for coveralls and winter coats
because it’s snowing and blowing,”
Zarek said. “It was a nightmare.”
‘Never in my lifetime’
At daybreak on Thursday, March
14, Prososki was able to make it to
the Highway 22 bridge, a few miles
southwest of Genoa, where he saw a
large breach.
He and other employees were
anxious to survey damage at the
Headworks, but the roads to get there
were washed away. Fierce winds
prevented helicopters and drones
from flying.
By Friday morning, those winds
died down and helicopter pilot Kim
Wolfe flew a few employees to the
Headworks for the first time since
Wednesday night.
They found six breaches, including
two gaping holes on each side of
the intake structure. Zarek’s home
tipped into the canal. The parking lot
missing. A 2016 addition to the shop
ripped off. The weir bridge gone.
“We were all in awe,” said
Dan Hellbusch, Vice President of
Operations.
Prososki said the damage was
There is a light at the
end of this tunnel.
devastating. “I would have never
in my lifetime thought this would
happen,” he said.
It was especially so for Zarek,
whose work and home lives mesh in a
unique way at the Headworks.
“You can’t go home because it’s
gone,” he said.
Then, he gestures to the canal and
shop.
“This is like a second home and
it’s partly gone,” he said. “Where
do you start? What do you do? It’s
tough.”
‘We could fill a need’
The intake structure, emblazoned
with the year 1936, stood its ground
during the barrage — a testament
of Loup’s history and strength,
encouragement to those looking
forward.
And that’s exactly what employees
did as soon as they saw the damage.
“We started piecing things
together and getting a plan of what
we were going to do,” Zarek said.
There wasn’t really much time
for decisions, Hellbusch said. “We
just knew we needed to get the water
stopped,” he said.
But first, crews had to get to
the Headworks. The roads were
impassable.
It was a problem echoed across the
state as county after county declared
emergencies due to catastrophic
flooding. Rivers broke levees and
washed out roads.
Despite the losses, Nebraska
Strong became a mantra that
motivated and inspired people to aid
their neighbors, near and far. The
same held true for the Headworks’
neighbor, Preferred Sands.
The company’s sand processing
plant sits just over the hill to the
north of the Headworks. It purchases
sand dredged from the canal’s
settling basin and produces silica
sand and resin-coated products.
Production Manager Keith Ferris
was at the Preferred site that
Wednesday evening, keeping an eye
on things. When the power went out,
he knew it meant trouble for Loup.
Ferris has a close connection to the
Headworks. He grew up in the area.
His father, Lance, works for Loup. His
great-grandfather did as well.
“I know if we needed help, they’d
help us,” he said.
Plant Manager Scott Teigen said it
didn’t take long for Ferris to suggest
they help their neighbors.
“Keith jumped in and realized we
have a dozer, we have the excavators
and we have the trucks,” he said. “We
could easily fill a need.”
The plant closed due to flooding
and power loss. Both Preferred and
the Headworks lost power because
of damage to two substations along
the canal and power poles near the
Highway 22 breach.
Right: A Black Hawk helicopter drops sandbags into the south-side canal breach. The National Guard used 280 sand bags to fill the gap.
Below: National Guard Soldiers prepare to drop sandbags into the breach.
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