April 27, 2011 will go down in the history books in many parts of the south. On that day, a tornado with winds of 200 miles per hour caused havoc in the region.
Hard hit was a building owned by Catoosa County Public Schools, Ringgold, GA, which housed among other things, one of the district's 35 Kaivac machines.
'When we were allowed back into the building, we had to dig out the Kaivac [No-Touch Cleaning] machine,' says Paul Acuff, the district's Environmental Services Manager. 'We cleaned it up, dried it out, and then plugged it in.'
Acuff adds he was unsure if the machine would still operate, 'but it worked fine and is still working today. I was amazed...we lost a lot of tools and equipment, but now we know the Kaivac [machine] can withstand the toughest, even violent tornados.'