Iowa Grain Elevator Makes A Big Mess After Collapsing

A mess of corn was left behind after a structural failure on the northwest side of a grain elevator caused a blowout Tuesday morning.

At 4:30 am on Tuesday, a large part of a concrete solo wall fell to the ground while a train was being loaded at Landus Cooperative facility in Yetter. In a statement from the company, there were no injuries from the accident.

Concrete debris and corn did obstruct rail traffic on the CN Rail line as well as road traffic on Durant Ave, which runs north to south through the Landus site.

Crews spent Tuesday cleaning up the debris and upon initial review, there seemed to be no damage to any railcars or rail tracks.

Only one of the facility’s three receiving pits was impacted by the damage to the bin.

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Landus is Iowa’s largest farmer-owned agricultural cooperative and is headquartered in Ames, Iowa.

2021 Facility Explosion

Back in May 2021, the Landus Jefferson grain elevator experienced a dust explosion resulting in property damage.

In a statement, the explosion was caused by smoldering grain in a self-contaminated bin located next to the grain elevator. No one was hurt and all employees were accounted for after the accident.

In an article from KCCI, there was an explosion back in 1974 at the co-op that resulted in the fatalities of three workers.

The explosion did blow the tops off of four of six storage bins, topple walls, and caused catwalks to collapse.

Following the 2021 explosion, the head house of the facility’s grain elevator started on fire.