Dollar Tree Distribution Center Demolished by Tornado in Oklahoma
A Dollar Tree distribution center in Marietta, Okla. took a direct hit from a tornado Saturday night, with the natural disaster inflicting severe damage through the building’s roof and exterior.
The 1-million-square-foot building, which resides roughly 15 miles from the Oklahoma-Texas border, supplies products to stores across 11 states, including all of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, and portions of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.
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Aerial footage of the Dollar Tree warehouse courtesy of Live Storms Media shows the warehouse ripped open at one of its corners, with the damage from the tornado expanding all the through to the center of the building. Boxes and pallets are seen flung from the aisles and scattered across the ground, while semi-trucks and cars outside the facility are also seen flung across the area nearby.
Sourcing Journal reached out to Dollar Tree. No deaths or injuries have been reported.
There is no reported timetable for how long it will take to rebuild and reopen the distribution center.
Another distribution center for Dollar Tree’s sister brand, Family Dollar, in Duncan, Okla., was unharmed. That 900,000-square-foot warehouse services stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Missouri.
The tornado that hit the Marietta warehouse crossed Interstate 35, the highway where the warehouse was located, and destroyed a Dollar General store as well as another grocery store, Homeland. It also hit a local hospital and nursing home, but the residents and staff escaped unharmed and were transferred to other facilities.
The interstate was closed for about nine hours by Oklahoma’s Highway Patrol while debris and accidents were cleared from the highway.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt issued a state of emergency for 12 counties across Oklahoma after dozens of reported tornadoes swept through the state amid a series of storms, resulting in the deaths of four people. Nearly 30,000 people in the state were without power after the tornadoes began late Saturday night.
Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Gov. Stitt’s declaration temporarily suspends requirements for size and weight permits of oversized vehicles transporting materials and supplies critical to recovery efforts, emergency relief and power restoration.
The state of emergency will remain in effect for 30 days.
Upon visiting Sulphur, Okla., which is 50 miles north of Marietta, on Sunday afternoon, Gov. Stitt said, “I’ve seen a lot of damage. But what I saw in downtown Sulphur—it’s unbelievable. It seems like every business in downtown has been destroyed,” he said, according to KOSU.
Throughout the weekend, storms ravaged parts of states across America’s heartland including Nebraska, Iowa, Texas and Kansas, which were impacted by heavy rain and winds, hail and flooding alongside the tornadoes.
In Lincoln, Neb. on Friday, the office and industrial building of plastic products manufacturer Garner Industries took a direct hit from a local tornado, collapsing the facility. Approximately 70 employees were in the building when the tornado first hit, according to Lincoln police, with three workers enduring non-life threatening injuries. All employees were evacuated.
Beef brand Piedmontese had several windows blow out at its Lincoln warehouse due to the tornado, while the kitchen was damaged. Multiple delivery trucks were picked up and tossed around by the tornado.
Dollar Tree’s warehouse was first opened in 2003, at the time occupying 603,000 square feet of space before another expansion in 2013 added 400,000 square feet.
For the fourth quarter, the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar brands combined to generate net sales of $8.63 billion, up 11.9 percent from $7.72 billion a year ago. But the company incurred a net loss of $1.71 billion, against net income of $452.2 million.
The tornado isn’t the only recent problem that has befallen Dollar Tree, Inc. at one of its major warehouses. Family Dollar had to pay out $41.7 million in penalties due to a rodent infestation that plagued a facility in West Memphis, Ark. from 2020 to 2022—marking the largest ever monetary penalty levied by the U.S. government for a food safety violation. The distribution center, shuttered in May 2022, will be fully operational and reopened by fall 2024.