Cummins rental power helps flood-hit Cedar Rapids

Many parts of the area were under nearly 3 m of water and a total of 1300 city blocks lost power due to the heavy flooding, said Cummins. The company supplied 35 rental power units to businesses including telecoms companies, hotels and grocery stores.

One of these was Cryovac Food Packaging, which runs a 24-hour production operation five days a week. Cryovac ordered mobile power units including a generator set and control in a sound-attenuated housing.

The first unit arrived within 10 hours, and by midnight all three power units ─ including one 2 MW unit, one 1.5 MW unit and one 750 kW - had been delivered to Cryovac. By 7.30 am the following morning, just 48 hours after its power was lost, the plant was operating at full production.

"If we hadn't been able to get back up and running, our production would have been behind; then our customers would have been behind in their packaging process, which could have led to food spoilage and a lower product output," said Harlin Hawkins, maintenance facilities manager, Cryovac. "Everyone involved would have suffered."

The pumps units were supplied by Cummins Power Generation and local distributors, including Cummins Atlantic LLC, Cummins Bridgeway LLC, Cummins Mid-South LLC, and Cummins NPower LLC.

Many of the power units are still on rent in the city, being used to supply power to pump water away from underground utility transformers and to run dehumidifiers in numerous locations throughout the city.

Mike Herron, plan maintenance agreements and rental manager, Cummins Central Power LLC, said; "We mobilised quickly to solve our customers' problems and help the community. We helped make the pain go away, and that's what it is all about in our business."