(haunting music)
- [Reporter] The message here is clear,
get out or stay, and risk your life.
- [Reporter] The National Weather Service
is predicting deadly
winds and storm surges.
(strong winds whistling)
Last fall, when Hurricane
Michael hit Florida
and Georgia, it completely
devastated the area.
The trees were basically blown down.
It is a complete mess down here,
and we're trying to do our part
to help these folks down here
get back up on their feet
and get back to their daily lives.
And when these storms come through,
whether it's a hurricane or a tornado,
it's major damage to that area.
A lot of trees are down.
A lot of utility structure damage.
Step into the homeowner's
or the local business's shoes,
and imagine what it would be
for a hundred mile an hour plus wind
to park on your front door for hours,
and maybe a day,
and the amount of damage in
your trees, in your yard.
It's major damage to the communities
that are involved.
(machinery whirring)
So, after the hurricane comes through,
you have trees laying down everywhere,
and we have trucks that go around
and pick up the green tree waste,
and it comes to a site like this,
where they dispose of the
raw material, the trees.
And then, we come in with a grinder,
basically chews up the tree
and makes little pieces out of it,
and reduce the size of the trees,
and then that debris is then hauled off
to several different locations.
Sometimes it's used as
wood fuel for power plants.
Sometimes it's used as landfill cap,
and sometimes it's used in farmer's fields
for organic matter, the
farmers will plow it in.
So, there's several
things that we try to do
to reuse the material.
The mix of machines
that Ceres Environmental
has down here aids well
to be able to self-perform
the whole job site.
You've go long, whole
trees, that are here.
And that's where your horizontals shine,
and then, in a typical
hurricane here in the south,
you have a lot of blow over.
So, there's a lot of root
balls that come in as well,
and that's where the tub
grinder comes into play,
and it shows how well it can perform
in those larger, bigger diameter machines.
If it weren't for the grinders,
what are you gonna do with this material?
It's not suited, in its present condition,
for firewood.
You definitely don't wanna
take it to a landfill,
if we're being environmentally conscious.
You bring it in through the grinders,
they process it, to trying
to make a valued asset
out of a storm situation
is the key to success there.
We are standing on a
120 acre site right now,
and it is completely full.
By the time we get done reducing that,
you could probably put the tree waste
into a area of about five acres.
This is probably one of the
biggest projects we've done.
It is by far the most green tree waste
that we've done.
We were involved in
Hurricane Katrina clean up,
and this one is larger.
Without the support of Vermeer RDO
we would have a very difficult
time performing this.
(upbeat rock music)
So, with Hurricane Micheal
hitting the panhandle
of Florida and moving
it's way North and East.
Between Vermeer Corporation
and Vermeer Southeast,
there's more than just a
wood waste recovery effort.
Ya know, if you think
about your utility lines
that go down, your fiber
optics, all of your utilities
that run to your homes
and your businesses,
Vermeer Corporation manufactures
a variety of machines
from stump cutters, brush chippers,
your trenchers and plows
and directional drills
that are used to put
utilities underground.
The community will proudly
be replanting trees,
rebuild houses, they will
try to better themselves.
The hard work and dedication
that all my men put into
this job, because ultimately without them
we can't perform.
We have people leaving
home for months at a time
leaving their families
and coming down here
to help us perform this
job for these folks
in Florida and Georgia,
they matter a lot to our company
and I have to commend them for that.
Taking time away from their families
to help other families,
and I very much appreciate
how hard they work and they
matter a lot to our company.
(rock music).
