Marion works to repair lightning damage

Published 11:42 am Wednesday, August 2, 2023

The Town of Marion is working to repair lightning damage to its water treatment plant after a bout of severe weather moved through the area Sunday afternoon.

In a meeting Tuesday, Water Department Supervisor Andrew Bateman said some of the damage had already been repaired, but some equipment would likely need to be replaced.

“The lightning storm, the storm we had Sunday, got ahold of the water plant,” he said. “It messed up one of our boards, which is the CSI, which controls all of our stuff.”

The damaged controls were quickly repaired, Bateman said, but well number one did not turn back on, and an initial inspection by an electrician showed evidence of lightning damage. He said the well company had already been contacted to come pull the motor out of the well and further assess the damage.

“We may have to replace our motor, our pump motor and all, in well number one,” he said.

Depending on what further inspection reveals, Bateman said the town could be looking at an expense of up to $20,000. If it does get that high, he said, it might be worth filing an insurance claim to help offset the cost.

Town officials can discuss the costs and benefits of filing insurance later, Bateman said, but the important step right now is to get the well repaired and back online.

“We don’t need to be operating on one well no longer than we’ve got to,” he said.

Town Engineer Shaun Miles said there is also an issue with one of the two pumps installed at the lift station on Chickasaw Street. An inspection, he said, showed both breakers had been tripped, and after resetting them, one immediately tripped again.

“There’s something going on with pump number one,” he said. “It needs to be pulled.”

As the town moves forward, Miles said he would recommend looking into some remote monitoring or alert systems for the town’s lift stations. There are several options for systems that will send notifications to town employees if a problem arises, he said.

The town already has a system in place for its main lift station but has not equipped its other lift stations with the technology.

With projects underway to recover from storms, Marion is also working to better prepare itself for future weather events. Bateman on Tuesday told the Board of Aldermen the electrician used by the town had agreed to help install a new generator for town hall.

Aldermen approved the purchase of a generator in their July 3 meeting. The generator will act as a backup power source for town hall in the event of a storm or other issue that causes power to go out.

Bateman said there will be some initial setup that can take place without disrupting town business, but the electrician will need a day when town hall is shut down to finish the generator installation.

“The day he needs to hook it up, we’re going to have to close town hall because we’ll have to power down town hall to do the work,” he said.

Over the next few months, Bateman said, town officials will want to look at times when business is slow and a potential shutdown could take place with minimal impact. The installation itself is only expected to take a few hours, but the electrician wanted the full day in case problems pop up.