After the water recedes

It had been the kind of year familiar to many small businesses: a year when you feel that every little thing that can go wrong does. But Donna Johns, one of the owners of Manning Lumber, is an optimistic woman. She believed, with the end of the year in sight, things could only get better. Then, on Saturday, December 1, it started to rain.

Johns, her husband Mike, and her parents, Odis and Jackie Eddings, own Manning Lumber, located on Dairy Creek near the small community of Manning. "My father and husband always worked in the mills," she says. "Dad retired early and was looking for something to do, so we bought this property. When we bought it in 1999, it was just a briar patch and old mill equipment. We spent the next few years trying to decide what kind of lumber business we wanted to be. Three years ago we decided we wanted to remanufacture lumber and got started."

Today their company mills kiln-dried cedar. When the rain began, it was falling on stacks of finished lumber. "The rain could ruin it," says Johns. "We hurried and tarped it all and got it out of the rain." It would take more than a little rain to dampen her spirit.

By Monday, however, shredded pieces of tarp were whipping in hurricane-force winds, and the rain was pouring onto the wood.

"Overall, we still felt we had succeeded," says Johns. "A lot of lumber was inside the mill and a storage building, so it was okay. I was on the phone with my dad, who was stuck in Forest Grove, telling him things were fine, but the creek was coming up; he should try to get here. I was still on the phone with him when Dairy Creek began rushing through the mill. We try to be prepared, because sometimes the creek does rise, but it has never overflowed its banks. This was unusual; it happened so fast."

Everyone at the mill worked hard to save the wood, but the water kept rising. Eventually the water rose as high as three feet in some of the lower areas of the mill property. Three times they moved their cars to higher ground, and soon there was nowhere else to go.

"We were standing at the gate with water above the rims of the tires," Johns recalls. "We just said to each other, 'There's nothing more we can do here.' We had to leave. Our mill was a lake."

The next day, as the water receded, they returned to a monumental task. Wood covered with mud and sand was scattered around the property, and the unfinished lumber had to be washed before it could be re-dried and milled. Mud still covered the floor of the storage shed, and the property was littered with trash that had been dropped as the water receded.

"Things weren't where they should be," says Johns. "Sheets of tin and old tires had floated in. We may never know what floated out. It took two days of work with snow shovels and hoses to get the mill running, and an overwhelming amount of clean-up is still needed."

Their flood insurance, Johns learned, covered the damage to the buildings, but not the contents, and it only reimbursed federal minimum wage for the clean-up. Although she was confident that other insurance would eventually pay for many of the losses, cash flow became a problem in the short term.

Later that same week, she received a bill from SAIF. Her premium payment was due. Telling this story, she laughs. "Just when I thought there was nowhere to go but up."

"I got a call from Donna on Thursday afternoon," recalls SAIF Billing Representative Trinia Casmey. "She said she had just received her bill and needed an extension.

She sounded really sweet and very concerned, so I asked her what happened.

"After she explained what the flood had done, I began brain-storming, tossing out suggestions to her while I checked her history. Then I saw she had a dividend coming. I told her, 'I think I have some good news.' But I couldn't be sure; I needed to check with my manager, Ruth Koenig. She said it would be okay to apply part of Manning Lumber's dividend to their balance."

Casmey got back on the line with Johns. "Happy holidays," she said.

"It couldn't have come at a better time," says Johns. "I hadn't heard anything about the dividend, so it came as quite a surprise. Then Trinia told me that the dividend was more than the balance, and we'd also be getting a check. I was thrilled. You don't know what this means to me."

"She was a nice lady. I'm glad it all worked out," says Casmey. "I can't describe how good it feels to know we are helping people."