More than a year after lightning struck the Watonwan Farm Service grain elevator in this town, location manager Craig Christenson said he is grateful for the support the company received as it has rebuilt from the incident.

On July 16, 2007, lightning struck the company’s 350,000-bushel cement structure, causing a short-lived fire and busting a hole in the east side of the cement bin.

Soybeans and corn poured from the gaping hole, and all of the corn and soybeans that were in the grain bin at the time had to be sent off to processing plants or other locations.

The site was blocked off from all entries for a few days, and 12 families who lived on nearby streets were evacuated from their homes.

Christenson said though the company lost the 350,000-bushel elevator plus the old wood-and-corrugated steel elevator to the north at the site, it ended up gaining 1,400,000 bushels in capacity.

“We were rebuilding, so we might as well do it right,” Christenson said.

Now the company is able to store three times the capacity of the old elevator, he said. And though this means more space to fill, the company has been doing a good job of keeping full.

WFS has several new accounts, he said, though he didn’t know whether they were because of the new storage or the market situation.

“It’s been an educational experience,” Christenson said, looking back over the last year. “Nobody got hurt — it sounds like an old cliché, but it sure fit.”

The farmers and the community were wonderful, he said.

“Thanks for all the support in the last year and the patience and understanding,” he said.

Adjacent to the new grain elevators will also be a 37,000-ton fertilizer plant, which is set to be completed in December, Christianson said. Loads of fertilizer will be dropped off at the plant and then readied for distribution.