According to the company, the cleaning house of the facility sustained “significant damage” while the mill proper “experienced no apparent damage.”
“We are working with our experts as well as local authorities to assess exactly what happened,” Bartlett said.
The Statesville mill has 14,500 cwts of daily milling capacity. Bartlett owns a second mill in North Carolina, in Wilson’s Mills. The latter mill, 175 miles east of Statesville, has daily milling capacity of 15,000 cwts.
Bartlett said the injured employee was driven to the hospital by a fellow worker. The injured employee was listed in stable condition as of April 9.
The company was uncertain about when the Statesville mill would resume operations but said that arrangements have been made to assure flour customer needs are met.
“Over the next several days, we will determine the total extent of the damages and the repairs necessary to restart production,” Bartlett said. “We are shipping flour from our other mills in North Carolina and Kansas, as well as from other sources, to continue to provide uninterrupted service to our customers.”
