March 19th,

 

2019 is a day that will live in infamy.

 

Among the record keepers in the Midwest,

 

Nebraska and Iowa woke up to a bomb cyclone that would cause untold devastation across the area.

 

In the wake of the bomb cyclone in 2019,

 

Nebraska experienced all time record flooding that lasted for months and caused irrevocable damage to many farms and businesses.

 

Winds got up to 100 miles an hour in the mountains.

 

1 to 3 ft of snow fell and the bomb cyclone caused blizzard conditions in some parts of the state.

 

The bomb cyclone also caused mass amounts of precipitation,

 

rain and melting snow that led to flooding roadways and bridges had been washed out completely or came darn close to it.

 

Traveling west out of Omaha became nearly impossible due to the flooding roadways leading in and out of the city.

 

These were caused by the collapse of the Spencer Dam and the flooding of the Elkhorn river getting in and out of Omaha and Plattsmouth Nebraska was not possible.

 

I 80 was completely flooded due to the Platte River,

 

flooding liquid trucking near to the overflowing Platte River got put out of house and home and was forced to operate out of a nearby car dealership as the entire community came together to help the trucking company and the trucking company came together to help themselves.

 

And the community as well off Air force base was also greatly affected by the flooding of the Platte River.

 

30 buildings ended up being inundated with water.

 

Their sole runway experienced 3000 ft of flooding Camp Ashland which is one of Nebraska’s National National National Guard training sites was also extensively damaged.

 

They’d experienced a massive flood in 2015 as well which caused almost $4 million in damage.

 

The small town of Lynch Nebraska saw 30 out of 100 total homes destroyed.

 

Estimated damage throughout the state was over $1.3 billion.

 

There was $449 million in damage to the roads,

 

levees and other infrastructure.

 

27 bridges were damaged.

 

$440 million worth of crops were lost.

 

$400 million worth of cattle were lost.

 

Livestock losses included 700 hogs that were drowned on a farm near Fremont.

 

And volunteers from Ohio’s rural America relief mounted a 10 truck convoy to North Bend with supplies for farm.

 

Clean up.

 

The 500 year flood is what we’re here to talk about today on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

 

And we’ve got some fantastic interviews coming up with people that experience this flood firsthand,

 

both on a professional and a personal level.

 

We’re getting serious this week on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

 

So strap in because we’re talking about the 500 year flood.

 

Welcome to the Gold Standard of podcast for the gold standard of drivers.

 

This is the Liquid Trucking podcast with your host,

 

Marcus Bridges.

 

All right.

 

So in the opening,

 

you got all the facts about the 500 year flood.

 

I told you about all the devastation.

 

I told you a few little facts and now we’re actually gonna hear some stories from the people that experienced it firsthand.

 

Joining me today,

 

I have dispatch and account manager Tanner Bowman from Liquid Trucking Tanner.

 

Thank you for being here.

 

Thanks for having me and of course,

 

we’ve got general manager Josh Schmidt on the line as well.

 

Josh,

 

we appreciate the time.

 

Appreciate it,

 

Marcus.

 

So this 500 year flood,

 

uh,

 

pretty nuts.

 

You wake up,

 

it’s 2019.

 

You hear about 100 mile an hour winds 1 to 3 ft of snow,

 

a bomb cyclone.

 

What’s going through your mind?

 

Tanner?

 

Talk to me about,

 

uh the first couple of hours of this flood and how you were feeling and what was going through your head.

 

Well,

 

you know,

 

we got all the,

 

all the information kind of like you said there.

 

You know,

 

sometimes the weather men don’t get it right.

 

So you’re kind of going,

 

yeah,

 

sure.

 

You know,

 

probably not going to be as bad as you think.

 

And living in plants with my whole life,

 

been through quite a few floods.

 

So you kind of have an idea of what you think you’re getting into and then you don’t really consider all the extra factors of the frozen ground and hot weather and the melting snow and all that.

 

So Thursday,

 

we come into work and the water’s a little high.

 

Well,

 

then it starts coming over the railroad tracks right next to the shop there and kind of trickling around the road and where everybody’s watching it kind of looking at it as day goes on the,

 

the stream next to the road gets a little bit bigger and,

 

and you don’t really realize exactly what’s going on.

 

But then people start leaving the office and little,

 

you know,

 

unbeknownst to us and dispatch,

 

we couldn’t quite see what was going on.

 

But the road behind the truck shop from where we were sitting had been flooded over and it was getting bigger and deeper.

 

And finally,

 

when it was time to go home,

 

about 530 or so,

 

we come all pulling out of the parking lot.

 

There’s,

 

I don’t know,

 

100 100 yard stretch of road was covered and there was,

 

I don’t know,

 

maybe 2 ft deep at that point and maybe not that deep,

 

but it was pretty deep.

 

And,

 

uh,

 

so we get out of there and we’re thinking,

 

man,

 

you know,

 

this is,

 

this is pretty nuts,

 

you know,

 

it’s never been this bad before and we had an idea of maybe it was gonna get a little bit higher but didn’t really think too much worse.

 

Well,

 

then Friday,

 

we come,

 

come into,

 

we get phone calls really late at night,

 

early in the morning and,

 

you know,

 

hey,

 

guys get to work as soon as you can,

 

we gotta see what’s going on here.

 

We’ll show up to work and everything’s covered in water.

 

You know,

 

it’s,

 

it’s up to the curb of the shops.

 

But luckily the night before we had had the,

 

the good idea to move equipment kind of out of the yard to various places around town up on the hills,

 

up on the roads,

 

get them out of the lot so they wouldn’t get blocked in.

 

So we got a lot of our equipment out of there.

 

But then Friday comes rolling around and whatever was left is stuck.

 

You know,

 

it’s,

 

it’s,

 

it’s pretty deep.

 

We had to air boat in,

 

couldn’t drive cars in.

 

Luckily,

 

you know,

 

the,

 

the owners and a few people in the community had airboats.

 

So that was my first ride on an airboat.

 

And,

 

uh,

 

you know,

 

not,

 

not the ideal way to have your first ride,

 

but the airboat is in.

 

We work Friday.

 

We’re working on keeping the fleet moving.

 

We ended up having to cut holes into the floors and into some walls because we had to move the servers up from the basement because we thought,

 

well,

 

jeez,

 

if it’s this high,

 

what if it,

 

what if it gets higher,

 

you know,

 

who,

 

who knows what’s gonna happen at this point.

 

And so we’re,

 

we’re running around every,

 

you know,

 

a lot of,

 

a lot of the office staff came in,

 

some of them stayed at home and worked from home.

 

Um,

 

but a lot of people came in and we were cutting the building up,

 

running wires,

 

places,

 

they shouldn’t be and moving everything up off the floors,

 

getting filed out of filing cabinets,

 

just getting it up as high as we could.

 

That was Friday.

 

So then Saturday we have a game plan to u usually on Saturdays,

 

we dispatch for Sunday and Monday.

 

So we’re like,

 

ok,

 

everything’s good.

 

We’ll come in Saturday at the crack of dawn.

 

We’ll get in here and we’ll dispatch out and we’ll see what kind of,

 

what’s going on.

 

Then we’ll,

 

we come in Saturday and now there’s,

 

oh,

 

I don’t know,

 

2 3 ft of water in the,

 

uh,

 

in our administrative Bosh bay building and there’s probably 4 ft of water in the truck shop and things,

 

things are floating,

 

filing cabinets are knocked over,

 

chairs are everywhere,

 

you know,

 

it was just a disaster.

 

And,

 

uh,

 

so we air air boat in again.

 

We have hip waiters on chest waiters on get in here.

 

We dispatch out Saturday.

 

Luckily Josh had,

 

had gotten word we could use an office building up in town.

 

So we decided we were going to pull the servers out on Saturday,

 

which is kind of one of those deals where if the servers go in,

 

go in the flood,

 

we’re,

 

we’re sol that’s,

 

that’s all,

 

all of our business,

 

all of our hardware compu,

 

you know,

 

programs,

 

all that stuff,

 

all of our information’s on,

 

on those servers.

 

So we’d be quite dead in the water at that point.

 

Exactly.

 

Exactly.

 

So we double wrap them in trash bags,

 

throw them on the air boat,

 

you know,

 

air boat him out.

 

And it was,

 

it was almost like the,

 

the fall of Saigon,

 

the fall of Aapis,

 

you know,

 

this is the last boat now.

 

And so we get out and,

 

uh,

 

you know,

 

it was just,

 

it was crazy,

 

man.

 

I,

 

I’d never seen anything like it.

 

I hope you never see anything like it again,

 

but we got all the stuff out and move to a new office up in town up on highway 75 at the car dealership.

 

And we sat up there for six months to dispatch out of a little,

 

you know,

 

it seemed like a locker room size.

 

There’s,

 

I don’t know,

 

six or seven of us in there.

 

Just a small little room dispatching for a couple of months and then,

 

you know,

 

the waters are heed and everybody just came back together again and cleaned everything up and got as much,

 

uh,

 

stuff back as operating as quickly as possible and the trailer shops got the trailers in,

 

you know,

 

and I think,

 

I think it took them just a couple of days to get all the wheel bearings replaced and all that stuff checked out because they had sanded them,

 

everything from being in the water.

 

And,

 

you know,

 

the truck shop got all the trucks drained all the oil out of them to make sure there’s no water in the engines and got those fixed up and got everybody back on the road as quick as possible.

 

So it was really an amazing come together moment for the company and you always try to preach,

 

you know,

 

the company’s kind of like family and it really did feel like everybody was just,

 

you know,

 

helping each other out coming together like family on,

 

on that instance.

 

I mean,

 

just really a cool inspirational thing to see and be a part of,

 

you know,

 

and even,

 

even though it was a terrible thing,

 

it was,

 

it was very,

 

you know,

 

very interesting time at the time,

 

the company’s history to think,

 

boy,

 

I guess so.

 

And,

 

and people always come together the best in times of tragedy and uh it sounds like it was true,

 

uh hands down for liquid during this flood.

 

Now,

 

Josh,

 

as general manager,

 

uh Tanner just gave us a,

 

a great walkthrough of all of the difficulties you were facing,

 

just trying to keep the business up and running you’ve got trucks out on the road,

 

you’ve got drivers to worry about.

 

And now you’ve also got,

 

uh,

 

not only your business but your community to worry about.

 

How did you balance all those,

 

uh,

 

those thoughts and feelings going through your head and,

 

and keep a level enough head to push this thing forward to where you guys could actually keep liquid,

 

not only up and running but thriving during this flood.

 

That’s a great question.

 

You know,

 

it seems like almost like a nightmare to me now.

 

And I can’t really remember exactly what I was thinking.

 

I think that uh the owners here,

 

you know,

 

myself,

 

my brother,

 

my dad,

 

you know,

 

our houses were also flooded.

 

So we didn’t have a place to go.

 

We,

 

you know,

 

our families,

 

we were,

 

you know,

 

we just didn’t have a place to live or we were just wondering,

 

is this,

 

it is it,

 

is it over with.

 

Um,

 

but at the time,

 

you know,

 

I think when something terrible happens,

 

I think your adrenaline kicks in and,

 

and,

 

you know,

 

your body has a way of allowing you to think clearheaded and,

 

and move forward.

 

I think,

 

uh I give most credit to our,

 

our staff here and our family and our friends uh for picking us up in our time of need.

 

And that’s basically what happened there.

 

We were trying to lead the ship,

 

but I mean,

 

we didn’t have any answers,

 

what,

 

you know,

 

what are you supposed to do when everything you own,

 

including your houses,

 

your businesses,

 

we even had a campground business that was underwater.

 

Everything’s underwater.

 

So it was tough.

 

But the,

 

the really cool thing as Taylor touched on was everybody stepped up.

 

It would have been really easy for everybody to say,

 

well,

 

this place is screwed.

 

I’m gonna start looking for a job or I’m out of here.

 

This is dangerous.

 

I’m not gonna,

 

you know,

 

risk my life to go get these servers out of here or you know,

 

that kind of thing.

 

Um So it was really interesting how it all broke down there and how did the community come together here because it sounds like you were supported and at least you were able to move into an old car dealership up on the hill and get away from uh the flooding at the terminal so that you guys could keep dispatching.

 

And Tanner said you guys were there for a period of time.

 

Was that something that somebody did for the company?

 

Just out of the kindness of their heart?

 

Was there a connection there?

 

How did you guys end up at the uh at the old car dealership?

 

You know,

 

it’s uh Plattsmouth is a town that’s,

 

you know,

 

at the mouth of the Missouri river.

 

So the,

 

the Platte River,

 

Missouri River intersect here as Taylor mentioned,

 

you know,

 

no one in Plattsmouth is,

 

floods aren’t a strange thing here,

 

but they’re,

 

they’re never like that.

 

So the community really did come together.

 

It wasn’t just our company,

 

it was the whole community that came together and uh people were offering us,

 

you know,

 

all of branch’s help.

 

The car dealership,

 

Greg Young actually reached out to us and said,

 

hey,

 

do you need a place for,

 

to go?

 

And we didn’t have any better options.

 

So we did like Taylor mentioned also the airboats,

 

people that own airboats were in here helping us.

 

They,

 

you know,

 

they were taking our,

 

our families and our employees families that live around here to their houses so you could get what’s left or what you needed out of there to,

 

you know,

 

your clothes and your stuff.

 

Yeah.

 

And I guess I want to say that the real heroes here were we really our,

 

our mechanics and our drivers and those kinds of people I remember back and I think Canada would back this up.

 

Not one person complained over that six weeks time when this company was a mess.

 

I think dispatch was just trying to,

 

they had no access to a lot of our programs and they were just telling drivers,

 

you know,

 

hey,

 

just head this way,

 

I guess,

 

I don’t know what to do next and there were bridges out.

 

So drivers were having to figure it out,

 

driving way out a route just to get to where they needed to go.

 

And,

 

you know,

 

we had new drivers we have drivers that have been here a while.

 

Not one of those guys complained and you know,

 

that to me was really special.

 

I mean,

 

looking back at the time,

 

yes,

 

it was,

 

it was a nightmare.

 

But looking back,

 

it was really cool how everybody came together,

 

mechanics,

 

drivers,

 

dispatchers,

 

you know,

 

office staff,

 

the community.

 

Yeah,

 

it’s such a cool story to hear about everybody,

 

you know,

 

pulling up their bootstraps and,

 

and heading to,

 

to battle almost here and,

 

and to know that,

 

uh nobody was complaining in the light of all this adversity,

 

it,

 

it can’t be easy when your,

 

when your job runs on such a strict schedule and you’re trying to get things to people that need them so that they can do their job.

 

I imagine there was a lot of frustration outside the area from your customers and things like that.

 

Did you find that customers were also uh sympathetic to what you were going through once they actually got the news of,

 

hey,

 

the entire terminals under the water?

 

I mean,

 

uh Tanner,

 

you might,

 

you might talk to some more customers and maybe you can speak to this.

 

But how did they react when something like this happening?

 

Because I,

 

when I look at it kind of big picture,

 

I see the customers as obviously part of the liquid community,

 

you guys need them to keep doing your jobs as well.

 

Uh What was the response?

 

And how did they aid in your guys’ recovery.

 

Yeah.

 

So you’re absolutely right.

 

The customers,

 

you know,

 

but,

 

and,

 

and I mentioned we,

 

we tried to get as much of our equipment out of the yard as we can as we could.

 

And when we did,

 

we still,

 

I think had maybe 15 or 16 trailers that ended up staying behind,

 

but we kind of put them up as high as we could.

 

So they weren’t as deep in the water as what they would have been.

 

So,

 

you know,

 

we reach out to the customers,

 

we told them what loads were,

 

you know,

 

kind of marooned in the middle of the flood.

 

And we said,

 

hey,

 

if you don’t believe us,

 

I know this sounds like a pretty tall tale,

 

but just turn on the news and uh they,

 

they all already knew about it and they offered any kind of support they could and not and not a lot of our customers are local here.

 

So,

 

you know,

 

they,

 

they can only offer so much help,

 

but they were incredibly kind and open to any options we gave them.

 

We did prioritize what we could as far as the loads that were stuck here.

 

Hard to those need to be the first ones into the shop to get them out as soon as possible.

 

You know,

 

they’re,

 

they’re a week behind already or something like that.

 

So they were all incredibly understanding,

 

you know,

 

we obviously,

 

you know,

 

hey,

 

here’s a picture to back up to back up our,

 

our,

 

our,

 

uh dance here,

 

here’s the picture of your trailer and it’s in three or 4 ft of water.

 

So,

 

you know,

 

it’s,

 

it’s being right where that a,

 

a bit and they were,

 

they couldn’t have been more understanding.

 

I mean,

 

what,

 

you know,

 

what,

 

what are you gonna do at that point?

 

You know,

 

it’s,

 

you’re not gonna change the facts at that point.

 

So it was,

 

it was really cool to see even some of the tougher customers kinda relax a little bit and say,

 

hey,

 

we got it,

 

let us know if,

 

if there’s anything we can do to help,

 

even though we’re,

 

you know,

 

500 miles away,

 

we’ll do anything we can.

 

So it was,

 

it was really nice and refreshing.

 

So it sounds like it.

 

I mean,

 

I guess a picture of you at work in chest waiters probably tells all the story that,

 

uh,

 

the customers need to see.

 

It’s like that’s not a typical work outfit for you.

 

At least when I’ve been at the terminal.

 

Yeah.

 

No,

 

we got a lot of,

 

a lot of pictures for sure.

 

So,

 

you know,

 

for,

 

for those that have never been through the area and of course,

 

everybody listening to this podcast,

 

it’s likely that you’ve,

 

uh,

 

you’ve been right to Plattsmouth,

 

you understand the,

 

uh,

 

the lay of the land there.

 

But my first trip out there was,

 

was recently and I’ve been out a couple of times since when I was out there.

 

The guy I was out,

 

they’re with,

 

he pointed to a hill in the distance,

 

way off one direction and said,

 

you see that little hill out there.

 

And of course,

 

I’m from the Pacific Northwest.

 

I come from mountains.

 

So,

 

yeah,

 

that was a little hill away in the distance.

 

And then he,

 

he pointed the opposite direction.

 

He said,

 

you see that other hill way in the distance.

 

I said,

 

yeah.

 

And he said that’s the Missouri River valley.

 

That’s where the river used to be.

 

And it’s all kind of just,

 

you know,

 

over the years dwindled down to what we see today.

 

And I was blown away when I was researching for this episode that the size of the Missouri River valley.

 

Like I if if this flood was any worse,

 

I can’t imagine the devastation because we’re all talking billions of dollars worth of damage throughout the area.

 

Uh Half a billion dollars of damage to roads,

 

27 bridges damaged.

 

This is absolute chaos.

 

And Josh,

 

I wonder you said it was kind of a nightmare for you.

 

And I don’t blame you for having that sentiment.

 

They call this the 500 year flood.

 

But is there any like thoughts that linger in the back of your head?

 

Like what if this happens again?

 

And it’s in five years?

 

Not 500?

 

Yeah,

 

you just nailed it there,

 

Marcus.

 

So we just in the last year,

 

we built a new administrative building and driver training facility and this thing cost a pretty penny and we put it quite a long ways away from the rest of our operation,

 

like on the far southeast side of our property.

 

And the reason why it’s so far,

 

that direction is because it’s about eight or 9 ft higher than the floor of the highest building on the other side of a lot.

 

So our goal here is to continue building on this side down the road.

 

I think that we’ll,

 

we’ll,

 

we’ll build some more,

 

uh,

 

driver amenities,

 

uh,

 

probably new maintenance facilities,

 

all that kind of stuff,

 

uh,

 

over on this side because like you said,

 

I know it’s a 500 year flood,

 

but if it happens once it can happen again and,

 

and we were very,

 

very lucky that,

 

that the company was able to survive this.

 

I have one more thing as we’re talking here.

 

Um,

 

I’m starting to remember some things I’m talking about.

 

Not one driver,

 

not one person in the company complained,

 

nobody quit on us.

 

It,

 

it was really amazing.

 

Another thing that drivers were dealing with,

 

these guys would park their vehicles in our yard and then they’d go out for a week or two and drive our truck.

 

Well as this floods coming in so quickly,

 

you know,

 

we hired a tow truck,

 

we got our friends to,

 

with tow trucks to come in and tow our driver’s vehicle to high ground.

 

Well,

 

guess what,

 

we didn’t get them all out and those drivers kind of parked on the low part of the lot.

 

So I’ll bet you,

 

we had a dozen drivers that also lost their,

 

their personal vehicles in the flood and some of them didn’t have whole whole insurance.

 

And again,

 

we felt terrible about that,

 

but no one raised the thing.

 

So it was,

 

uh,

 

very interesting.

 

That’s amazing.

 

I think it speaks to the culture of the company.

 

Um And,

 

you know,

 

we talk about it a lot on this podcast.

 

Uh Everybody seems to really enjoy working for Liquid and they,

 

uh they,

 

they don’t come on the podcast and constantly complain about things.

 

In fact,

 

they come on the podcast to talk about how well they’re treated,

 

how they feel like the company’s got their back and that,

 

that you guys would do anything for them.

 

And I think that this story that we’re telling right now really illustrates that fact.

 

Uh they’ll do anything for you.

 

They’ll bend over backwards for the company and the company bends over backwards,

 

uh right there for them as well.

 

And uh just when Jason brought up this episode and said,

 

let’s,

 

let’s hear these stories.

 

This is exactly what I was looking to get is the,

 

the stories that don’t get told.

 

You know,

 

there’s a lot of like,

 

oh how we did it.

 

But the fact that nobody complained,

 

nobody jumped ship and quit on you guys in the face of all of this.

 

Everybody stepped up and helped.

 

I think that really is just a,

 

a perfect snapshot of the culture that you all have created at Lakewood.

 

And uh it’s,

 

it’s just phenomenal to hear.

 

I,

 

I was,

 

I was really looking forward to this today and,

 

and you guys have done a great job of,

 

of really giving us a peek behind the curtain of what it was like.

 

And uh I wanna thank you both for that before I let you both go.

 

I do want to give you both the floor one more time in case there’s anything left that you want to say that you haven’t gotten out yet.

 

We’ve still got a little bit of time here so feel free.

 

Uh Tanner we can start with you.

 

Is there anything else you’d like to say before we wrap up here?

 

Uh No,

 

I mean,

 

I think we really touched on it all.

 

I,

 

you know,

 

kind of like Jeff mentioned,

 

I’d like to,

 

I’d like to thank everybody that was,

 

that was part of helping,

 

you know,

 

keeping everything moving forward all the current and,

 

you know,

 

past employees.

 

If any of them listen to it,

 

you know,

 

it’s,

 

there really was a team effort that,

 

that,

 

uh you know,

 

kept everything moving and,

 

and like Josh said,

 

nobody really had the answers and no ideas were really bad ideas and you know,

 

if anybody came,

 

came up with something I was,

 

yeah,

 

let’s,

 

let’s just do it and get things moving here and keep,

 

keep putting one’s foot in front of the other.

 

So it was,

 

it was really,

 

really great to see and just,

 

you know,

 

I,

 

I’m by no means an owner here,

 

but I’m,

 

I’m just as thankful,

 

I think.

 

Well,

 

probably not as thankful as Josh,

 

he,

 

he had a bit more stake in it,

 

but I’m just as thankful,

 

I feel as most people,

 

you know,

 

for the help that everybody,

 

you know,

 

put in and gave on it.

 

It was,

 

it was really great.

 

So I couldn’t think of a better place to work for,

 

you know,

 

thanks Tanner.

 

That was well said Josh,

 

is there anything else that you’d like to add before we wrap it up today?

 

Yeah,

 

like you guys both mentioned,

 

I,

 

I think it was,

 

uh I think we already had a pretty good culture.

 

Um But that was a,

 

a real culture building moment in the company’s history.

 

I think it made us stronger and,

 

and made us as owners and,

 

and the people in here realized,

 

hey,

 

if we don’t have culture and we don’t take care of,

 

of everyone that works here in their time of need,

 

they’re not going to take care of us in our time of need.

 

So since then,

 

we’ve really doubled down on all our people.

 

I mean,

 

we need everybody and,

 

and just trying to create that culture and let everybody realize,

 

hey,

 

we’re here for you very well said and,

 

and you know,

 

nothing galvanizes the culture like uh having all of your belongings float around in 4 ft of water or so and uh or your truck or your house like you had Josh.

 

So,

 

uh this has been great gentlemen.

 

Thank you so much for coming on here and sharing your stories.

 

I,

 

I can’t wait to see how this episode shakes out in full.

 

We’ve got a lot more stories to tell in this episode.

 

Uh But for now,

 

I’m gonna let,

 

uh dispatch an account manager,

 

Tanner Bowman and general Manager of Liquid Trucking.

 

Josh Schmidt.

 

Get back to work,

 

gentlemen.

 

Thank you again.

 

We’ll get you back on soon.

 

All right,

 

thanks Marcus.

 

Thanks Marcus.

 

Next up here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

 

I’m very excited to continue our episode on the 500 year flood and I’ve got three people joining me here.

 

You’ll know one of them very well.

 

He’s the president of Liquid Trucking Roger Schmidt,

 

Roger.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

We appreciate it.

 

You’re welcome.

 

Thanks for having us on.

 

Of course.

 

I’ve also got operations manager for Liquid Trucking Gabe Schmidt on the line,

 

Gabe.

 

We appreciate your time as well.

 

My friend.

 

Thanks for having me.

 

Of course and finally trailer shop manager.

 

Be Whipple joining us as well.

 

Be thanks for being here today.

 

Yeah,

 

thanks.

 

For having me,

 

Marcus.

 

Of course.

 

Now you guys all dealt with this flood at the same time,

 

everybody was dealing with it.

 

Roger.

 

I want to start with you here because I know that when you woke up that morning and saw the water on the ground,

 

things must have been going through your head and a million miles an hour.

 

Can you take me through the first day or two of this thing And what you were thinking,

 

what was going on in your head and,

 

and how you were dealing with this giant flood that was all over your property,

 

including your home,

 

if I’m not mistaken.

 

Yeah,

 

it was pretty intimidating.

 

We basically that there was water coming.

 

We didn’t,

 

we thought we were prepared for it because in 2011,

 

we were through a flood also.

 

And so we knew where all the high ground was and we thought it wouldn’t get any higher than it did in 2011.

 

And we were wrong about that.

 

And so the day couple of days before we,

 

we made preparations for a 2011 flood.

 

And uh then when we woke up that morning,

 

we could see that it had already exceeded that.

 

And then it was just a matter of panicking to the point of you just went to your roast highly valued assets and got all your help together to try to save whatever you could save.

 

And we really had a hell of a team here.

 

We knew our houses were pretty much gone.

 

So that was a matter of just saving the women and Children and dogs and cats and get them out of there because there was really nothing else we could do and take all your clothes that you had on your back and leave.

 

And then we came over to the truck shop because it was still not completely underwater and then just started taking every truck and trailer and tools and everything was so it was all hands on deck.

 

And I,

 

I’m really proud of all of our help that we all joined together and,

 

and got things moved and out to higher ground,

 

all the stuff that we could,

 

of course,

 

we still lost a portion of everything.

 

But we did a pretty fair job of getting 80% of our trucks and trailers and tools to higher ground.

 

And yeah,

 

that’s,

 

that was quite a 24 hour period.

 

Nobody got much sleep.

 

I can tell you that that does not surprise me.

 

I,

 

how do you balance Roger,

 

the home life that you’re dealing with this flood and then also the work life when you’re dealing with this flood,

 

you said we knew the houses were,

 

they were goner.

 

So get everything out.

 

Were you able to put the personal part on the back burner while you tackled the bigger fight?

 

That was the liquid trucking compound?

 

Yeah,

 

we,

 

we did because they really wasn’t any other choice.

 

It was ok.

 

How can we both house was flooded.

 

So he had to get his wife and Children and out of there and accommodate them.

 

And we had some really good neighbors and friends that took everybody in and uh made a place for police stay temporarily.

 

And then we just started my wife and Bo’s wife and Gabe’s wife and kids all went to those places and stayed behind and then we came back to the shops and just started moving whatever we could and getting our assets out that so,

 

yeah,

 

we had to work together and prioritize everything and the girls,

 

our wives all knew what we had to do and that’s what we did.

 

Sure.

 

And it sounds like just already based on the people I’ve already talked to about this,

 

that the community really came together,

 

everybody helping everybody in a,

 

in a way and we’ll get to that more here.

 

A as we continue to tell the story,

 

Gabe,

 

talk to me about your day that day,

 

obviously,

 

wife and kids,

 

the house is I is underwater or at least is becoming underwater very quickly.

 

What was going through your mind?

 

And,

 

and how did you deal with the stresses of the 500 year flood?

 

Yeah,

 

like Roger said,

 

you know,

 

we kind of knew it was coming and we were prepared somewhat for a 2011 flood.

 

And in 2011,

 

the water crept into our parking lot.

 

The business flooded our houses but didn’t get near the buildings or anything like that.

 

We were prepared for our houses maybe to be flooded,

 

but not the business.

 

So I got up about four o’clock in the morning and walked across the,

 

the road from my house and I,

 

I saw the water,

 

uh,

 

coming up on the crown of the road just getting ready to cross.

 

So I quietly went back in the house,

 

wife and kids were asleep,

 

packed up all the keepsakes,

 

photo albums,

 

all that stuff out of the basement,

 

moved it upstairs to higher ground.

 

And then,

 

uh by 7 a.m. went and woke up the wife and kids,

 

water was about a foot deep in the garage.

 

By then,

 

uh packed up the wife and kids,

 

got them ready for school,

 

shipped them out the school and that was the last time we stayed in that house.

 

So after that,

 

just water kept coming,

 

the business was still in good shape is on a little bit higher ground.

 

So I stayed home and kept moving things higher and higher as the water kept coming.

 

And then eventually I had to get out about 10 o’clock in the morning before I wasn’t gonna be able to get out.

 

So got out of there when put out to our way to the fire department was calling me to grab my air boat to get my neighbors out.

 

So went out there,

 

got the airboat.

 

My father-in-law walked on an airboat as well and we launched those and went and got all the neighbors out of their houses and they,

 

after all that water kept coming and then it was,

 

got the,

 

got the kids,

 

wife and kids settled into a temporary place and just started working on all night long,

 

working on getting all the equipment out and things up in the air,

 

in the shops.

 

And yeah,

 

it was just,

 

it was a pretty wild time.

 

Yeah,

 

I think that’s putting it lightly.

 

How much water Gabe was in your house.

 

Like you said,

 

you had to get out around 10 a.m. Were you,

 

are you up to your waist?

 

Are you up to your shoulders?

 

How deep was the water on the ground floor there at your place in the basement?

 

By 11 o’clock in the morning,

 

it was probably oh waist deep in the basement and,

 

and by the next day,

 

about 24 hours later,

 

it was probably,

 

I think it,

 

it ended up cresting in the house,

 

a foot and a half in the main level.

 

So the basement was holding about a foot and a half in the main levels where it crested out.

 

And so I’m not familiar with how things happen after a flood.

 

Obviously,

 

that water damage to your basement is probably on the border of un unrepairable.

 

Did you guys have to build a new house or were you able to get back into that one.

 

You said it was the last night you stayed there.

 

So I’m assuming a new house was in order like Roj said,

 

we’ve been through a flood before and actually twice before in that house,

 

this was the first time we’ve been through,

 

my wife and I have been through one with kids and ML so we did build a new house,

 

but we also did get that one fixed back up.

 

So it’s able to,

 

the house was actually salvaged.

 

I’m glad to hear that.

 

I was really worried that there was gonna be a whole second part of this interview where we talked about the devastation where you guys all had to get new houses because of uh this flood.

 

But it sounds while it was terrible and obviously you probably lost a lot of prized possessions of yours.

 

Sounds like you were able to get out in front of it a little bit and uh still salvage some things.

 

So we’re glad to hear that for sure.

 

Yeah.

 

Uh The best part about the best thing that could have happened with salvaging those houses.

 

Uh A group called Christian Aid Ministries showed up two days later,

 

uh a Mennonite colony and they brought trailers for tools people and they basically came and gutted all those houses for free and they worked tirelessly and they just work off donations.

 

So I can’t say enough good things about that group.

 

That’s amazing.

 

And another piece to that,

 

that,

 

that story that we’re talking about where the community really came together there.

 

And again,

 

I’m gonna get to that,

 

but I want to talk to Bow here real quick.

 

First bow as the trailer shop manager,

 

man,

 

I’ve seen some pictures.

 

You guys did a really good job getting a lot of the assets out there like Roger was talking about,

 

but there were some trailers that were still up above the wheels in water.

 

I’m wondering if those things weren’t loaded,

 

would they have floated away?

 

We actually have had a un unheeded uninsulated trailer that acted like a bomber and floated about 30 ft.

 

But yeah,

 

so all of our stuff was scattered and they were being stored at different places.

 

And we,

 

I think we had probably around 50 to 70 trailers that we had to get in and pull all the wheel bearings,

 

do the wheel bearings,

 

wheel seals and it was just as,

 

as fast as you could do it to get our stuff running again so they could turn around and start making money again.

 

Sure.

 

I actually,

 

I talked to Josh Schmidt and uh Tanner Bowman just before I got on here with you guys and that was one thing that they actually called out as being a real saving grace in this whole situation is how fast you guys were able to get the wheel bearing swapped out on those trailers once you had the use of your shot back.

 

So,

 

hats off to you.

 

It sounds like you guys pulled some,

 

some real miracles to get some of these trailers back on the road in the aftermath here.

 

Yes,

 

it was,

 

it was pretty nonstop.

 

What would you say?

 

That’s the busiest you’ve ever been at.

 

The shop is trying to get that done in a timely matter.

 

Yeah,

 

I would say we had everybody from the shop and the shop come down to our f and we got the whole place as far as everything that was in there,

 

pressure wash cleaned and we were running the next day.

 

That’s amazing.

 

It was kind of a company wide group effort to get that place up and going as fast as we could and get our trailers back on the road.

 

That’s amazing.

 

Great work there and you touched on it there,

 

bow and it’s a perfect segue.

 

You talk about a group effort.

 

The whole company came together and worked as hard as they could to make sure that the company stayed afloat.

 

And it sounds like the community really came together here and helped you guys out too.

 

When Gabe mentioned Mennonite colony that came and worked for free.

 

There was something else here that was done for free,

 

out of the kindness of someone’s heart that I gotta bring up Roger if you could.

 

Can you talk to me a little bit about the community pool and what you guys did for the local community pool there in the aftermath of this flood.

 

Yeah,

 

we,

 

what happened was the Nebraska.

 

It’s,

 

that’s right where the Missouri river and Platte River come together.

 

Actually,

 

the Platte runs into the Missouri at Platts.

 

But,

 

and that’s where the flood really had the biggest impact.

 

So all of Blacksmith’s wells uh,

 

were inundated so they didn’t have any water and they were running on,

 

uh,

 

the rural water from the county out here,

 

which was limited.

 

And so they weren’t going to fill a pool up for summer for the kids.

 

And so a friend of mine,

 

his name is Rob.

 

Me and they are with W and M farms and fast grass they raise so down on one of the fields next to us,

 

a couple of miles from us and he had a big irrigation well down there.

 

And so I went to the city and,

 

and I said,

 

hey,

 

I can supply the water and trucks to fill a pool.

 

And so they agreed that would be fine.

 

So we took over and,

 

and filled the pool pool up and I think it was like,

 

I don’t know.

 

And it was a lot,

 

yeah,

 

100 and 80,000 gallons.

 

And then we had to keep filling it up because it would evaporate.

 

And so we,

 

we took care of that most of the summer and put one driver on it and just kept,

 

kept it full and the kids got to enjoy the summer and everything went as usual,

 

I think,

 

from what I remember I want,

 

I think it was 67 or 77 loads that they really,

 

we really appreciated everything that everybody did for us.

 

And so it was a way to get back.

 

Oh,

 

yeah.

 

And such a great way to give back.

 

I,

 

we were uh when Jason told me about this,

 

I immediately had flashbacks to,

 

to growing up as a kid in a little tiny mountain town of only 2000 people.

 

And I know that Plattsmouth is,

 

is similar to that.

 

It’s a very tight knit small community and there’s not a lot for the kids to do there.

 

I will tell you right now,

 

my parents would have been bald by the time I was 12 years old,

 

if there hadn’t have been a community pool where I grew up because I loved the water and that was a place where they could go and just drop me off and my sister and I could spend all day there.

 

My sister was a lifeguard at the pool for years when she was in high school.

 

She had her first job there.

 

That community pool was so important to me as a kid.

 

And I imagine that the amount of lives that you guys touched just by making sure that pool was full for that one summer.

 

You’ll never truly understand the impact that Liquid Trucking had on that community.

 

And I gotta say huge pat on the back to all of you guys for that because that’s not something that you had to do.

 

Something that you wanted to do for the kind or out of the kindness of your heart to thank the community for how much they supported you in your time of need.

 

Yeah,

 

that’s exactly right.

 

Oh,

 

sorry,

 

go ahead.

 

Please.

 

Both game and Josh and I imagine be all hung out the swimming pool back when they were younger and,

 

and learning how to swim as a life lesson is so important.

 

Yeah,

 

especially when you’re talking about a,

 

a flood of this magnitude every 500 years or whenever it decides to show up.

 

Right,

 

Gabe.

 

Do you have any memories of the pool as a kid?

 

Do you get into any mischief out there or are you just out there working on your backstroke the whole time if we lose Gabe?

 

Oh,

 

what was that?

 

Sorry.

 

I started laughing about the backstroke.

 

Well,

 

I was what I was wondering.

 

Did you get into any mischief at the pool or were you just working on your backstroke out there?

 

Sounds like you spent some time out there as a kid.

 

Oh,

 

yeah,

 

we same as you.

 

We spent about every,

 

every day,

 

every summer at the pool.

 

Yeah,

 

I’m sure I got into plenty of mischief but I don’t think I ever got kicked out.

 

Oh,

 

that’s good.

 

I can’t say the same,

 

but I would say that moment of realization you have when you’re standing there in your wet swimming trunks and you’ve got no place to go and no towel and no shoes.

 

And it’s a real that maybe it’s time to start acting like an adult.

 

So it was good for me.

 

But that’s awesome.

 

So,

 

Gabe,

 

how did you feel when you knew that liquid Trucking was gonna be helping the pool out?

 

Is that a,

 

a feeling unlike any other to be able to do that for a community and have it make such a big impact?

 

I don’t know what I felt.

 

We just wanted to give back to the community.

 

It’s not,

 

I can’t say that it.

 

Yeah,

 

I guess it makes you feel good to be able to do something and give back to the community.

 

But the same time we were so busy rebuilding our,

 

our lives and our business and,

 

and then helping out with the community like you didn’t really have time to have too many feelings about anything.

 

Really?

 

Sure.

 

It makes total sense the first year or so.

 

Yeah.

 

No.

 

And that was gonna be another question.

 

I,

 

I was gonna ask Bo I was gonna turn to you for this one.

 

How long would you say it was after this flood until the shop was back to normal and working at 100% efficiency with all the tools and,

 

and everything that you need to do the job,

 

how long did that take?

 

So if I can back up a little bit,

 

we didn’t really talk about my house at all.

 

I live on the same lake as those guys did.

 

And so when this flood came in,

 

keep in mind we have no place to live now.

 

We have no offices in my trailer shop.

 

Everything was working off of cell phones.

 

Yeah,

 

it was pretty hard to,

 

to come to work every day and know that your house is in shambles and there’s so much to do.

 

Thank God,

 

I work for such a good family and these guys stepped up and,

 

and gave me some time off,

 

let me work on my house.

 

They helped out monetarily and got people in my house working on it to get us back in to help,

 

get us back in.

 

Not only the community,

 

but they sure help pay it forward to me and my family and try and get me back as,

 

as square as I could because it’s still pretty hard to come in and,

 

and try and run a shop when you’re just in shambles everywhere else.

 

Oh,

 

yeah.

 

I imagine just being able to keep your head on straight and concentrate on the task at hand is almost impossible because all you’re thinking about is back home that you’re sanctuary.

 

It’s not there anymore,

 

or at least not in the fashion that you want to be there.

 

Yeah.

 

Correct.

 

We were probably out of our home eight months maybe.

 

And Roger has some other properties and that,

 

that stuff needed built and they were trying to prioritize and they helped us out a ton.

 

But I would say,

 

I know they had to get the off the girls offices going a bunch of other stuff.

 

The front offices in the truck shop were more than just what a two person office and the trailer shop needed.

 

So that kind of got put on off for a little bit while they got the,

 

the more integral part of everything running.

 

But I would say it was probably five months by the time we got our offices back in our trailer shop and,

 

but that,

 

that didn’t hinder us too much.

 

Literally,

 

we were in there the next day after we got everything out cleaned out,

 

but probably took us about two weeks to get all of the trailers that were here up and running again.

 

And then we were business as usual after that.

 

That’s amazing.

 

I,

 

I think that really speaks to uh how good you all are at your job to be able to uh an operation like that if you’ve ever walked into one.

 

And I know a lot of the people that are listening to this,

 

probably all of them have.

 

It’s no small operation.

 

There’s a lot of moving parts,

 

there’s a lot of people,

 

there’s a lot of tools,

 

there’s a lot of technology to be able to be back up and running that quick is just a,

 

an amazing feat.

 

Really shows how good liquid trucking is at trucking,

 

I think in general and Roger,

 

I,

 

I wanted to,

 

to take this back to you for a second here because something else that Jason mentioned that really,

 

when you’re talking about this flood,

 

everything in time stops and you all deal with this flood and it,

 

it takes as long as it takes and it’s out of your control.

 

Something else that was out of your control happened right on the heels of this whole flood thing.

 

And that is COVID.

 

Remember this flood happened in 2019,

 

turn the page to 2020 smack liquid gets hit right in the face with an arguably worse crisis because this one’s nationwide.

 

Was there a trust built within the company Roger when you guys worked out of the flood and got back on your feet that translated into the whole COVID crisis that everybody had to deal with.

 

I really don’t know how to answer that.

 

Maybe broken.

 

Can you,

 

can you repeat that,

 

Marcus?

 

Sorry,

 

man.

 

No,

 

it’s ok.

 

So I was talking to Jason about this.

 

You guys,

 

the flood hit,

 

you guys are working on getting everything back to normal.

 

You’re doing a good job,

 

you’re pulling all your weight and all the different departments.

 

Liquid Trucking is up and running and then COVID hits.

 

Was there a trust built within the company during the flood?

 

That helped the company survive COVID.

 

The reason I asked this is we saw a lot of companies that didn’t have a good culture fall apart when COVID happened because of all the uncertainty,

 

people just ran out and looked for other jobs.

 

They just dropped everything where it was.

 

And what Jason told me is that liquid actually,

 

while everybody felt the effects of COVID and everybody was affected,

 

all the companies across the country liquid galvanized because you guys had already gone through this flood.

 

And I was just looking for you to expand on that for me.

 

Tell me how the floods galvanized the company and made you all able to deal with something like COVID,

 

right on the heels of it.

 

I think one thing that happened there was,

 

I think COVID was like nothing compared to the flood.

 

I would agree.

 

We didn’t even,

 

it was like,

 

so,

 

you know,

 

we did our precautionary stuff.

 

It wasn’t like we didn’t take it serious at all because we did,

 

but we put up all the shields and did the protocol sort of stuff.

 

But we all just came to work every day and just dealt with COVID,

 

but it wasn’t near as devastating for us because I think of the flood that we’d already been through.

 

It was like,

 

oh,

 

this is not that big a deal and maybe it’s because we’re in the Midwest and we’re used to hard times and hard work and good people.

 

Yeah.

 

No,

 

it’s the whole thing is just such an amazing story and not only that you guys were able to survive it but thrive in the wake of it and looking at something like COVID and being able to shrug it off as,

 

hey,

 

it’s not that big of a deal,

 

not anything like what we just dealt with.

 

At least our houses aren’t full of water right now.

 

Those little things that you remember that shape you for the future.

 

But this is,

 

this has been a fantastic conversation.

 

Gentlemen,

 

I really appreciate the time that you’ve all taken to,

 

to come on and,

 

and tell the stories.

 

I know sometimes these stories aren’t always the easiest to tell.

 

This one has a happy ending which we’re really happy about.

 

But obviously there was a lot of property lost.

 

I’m sure there was some life lost in this flood.

 

I know that it threw the entire area into disarray for quite some time.

 

So I,

 

I just really want to thank you all for coming on and sharing your stories here.

 

And before I let you go,

 

we do have a little bit of time left.

 

I wanna go around and make sure that there’s nothing that we’ve left out of any of these stories before I let you all go,

 

Gabe,

 

I’ll start with you.

 

Is there anything else about the flood or about the aftermath of the flood that you would like to talk about?

 

Before we,

 

we send you along your way.

 

I would like to bring up one other,

 

one other point on the COVID thing,

 

which I’m not sure if I should mention or we should put it in the podcast.

 

But to show how dedicated our trailer shop was during the flood and then to fast forward into COVID.

 

I remember the whole trailer shop tested positive for COVID.

 

They were all passed around the test Everybody but two people test positive and I remember asking what they wanna do.

 

We’re gonna have to shut the whole shop down or,

 

or what we’re gonna do and,

 

and talk to all the guys and,

 

and everybody agreed that we would just send the two guys that didn’t have COVID home and all the rest of the guys that had it stayed and worked through it with COVID.

 

That was pretty amazing.

 

That’s another pretty amazing thing that the treasure shop was able to do to keep things going.

 

Yeah,

 

I guess so.

 

How do you spell out uh,

 

dedication?

 

Look at those guys that all went to work with COVID and protected the people that didn’t have it.

 

That’s another thing.

 

That’s a huge piece of that,

 

that you don’t think of those two guys that were sick or that weren’t sick.

 

They got to,

 

they got to be healthy.

 

That’s a pretty big thing.

 

If you could give that gift to anyone,

 

I think you probably would.

 

Roger.

 

How about for you,

 

is there anything else that we left or Gabe?

 

Did I cut you off?

 

Did you still have something before I let you go?

 

No,

 

that,

 

that was it.

 

Ok.

 

How about you,

 

Roger?

 

Well,

 

I don’t know if,

 

uh Jason or,

 

or Josh mentioned that,

 

that when they moved the dispatch office up to Greg Young Chevrolet.

 

That,

 

that night,

 

Evan Schmidt,

 

which is my nephew.

 

He’s an it guy.

 

He stayed here all night.

 

That Friday night,

 

the water started coming in.

 

He moved all the computer hardware upstairs to keep it all going.

 

And then the dispatchers came in Saturday morning.

 

Now there’s a foot of water in the shop in the dispatch office or in the offices down below dispatch office is upstairs.

 

So the dispatcher all the way up in upstairs,

 

dispatch,

 

all the trucks got everybody going for Monday morning.

 

Then we unplugged every computer,

 

all of our servers and took them up to Greg Young Chevrolet,

 

which they donated a place for us to have up there for a few months and plugged all everything back in the next day on Sunday and it all worked and they were able to keep dispatching on Monday.

 

So those guys did a hell of a job also.

 

And that was all the dispatchers and all the it people.

 

They took all those,

 

they took all those computers out and servers out in plastic bags on air boats.

 

That’s amazing.

 

Uh You pay good money.

 

For good.

 

It guys,

 

that’s what you,

 

that’s something that’s a lesson to be learned here.

 

If they can make you survive a flood with all their technology,

 

they can do just about anything I would think.

 

Yeah.

 

Be,

 

is there anything else?

 

00,

 

sorry,

 

go ahead,

 

please.

 

Close to Bo.

 

Bo.

 

Anything else that you’d like to add before I let you go here?

 

No,

 

I’m good.

 

You’re all good gentlemen.

 

Roger Schmidt,

 

Gabe Schmidt,

 

be Whipple.

 

You guys did a fantastic job telling the story here today and I,

 

I really appreciate it again.

 

Your time,

 

Gabe,

 

you’re on the road,

 

you’re road tripping out there.

 

You took this call while behind the wheel.

 

Thank you so much for that Gabe.

 

Drive safe out there on your way out to Utah.

 

Ok.

 

Will do Roger B I’m gonna let you guys get back to it.

 

I know you’re there at the terminal and you got plenty on your plate.

 

Thank you for spending some time with the Liquid Trucking Podcast today.

 

You bet Marcus.

 

Thanks for having me,

 

man.

 

Thanks Marcus.

 

No problem.

 

Take care next up here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

 

Very excited to have my good buddy Jason Eisenman here with me,

 

Jason.

 

Thanks for taking the time today.

 

Yes,

 

sir.

 

Always and making his first appearance on the podcast.

 

I’ve got senior Manager from Liquid Trucking Evan Schmidt on the line.

 

Evan.

 

Thank you for being here.

 

Thanks Marcus.

 

Good to be with you today.

 

Well,

 

it is good.

 

It’s good now that it’s not 2019 anymore.

 

We’ve been talking about the 500 year flood all day today and you know,

 

hearing some of the stories,

 

of course,

 

Roger Gabe Bo all told fantastic stories as did Tanner and Josh beforehand.

 

And now we’re just gonna keep getting more stories here,

 

Jason,

 

I’m gonna start with you.

 

You’ve been giving me a lot of good kind of behind the scenes info on this.

 

Can you just walk me through day?

 

One of the flood?

 

From your perspective,

 

you wake up on the 19th of March in 20 or excuse me,

 

the 15th of March in 2019.

 

What’s going on?

 

Is there water already at your feet at your place when you woke up?

 

What are you seeing?

 

And,

 

and how does everything kind of start to come together as that day rolls on?

 

Yeah,

 

my day is a lot different that day and I think it was that day.

 

It’s good as I get older and this gets farther away.

 

It’s hard to remember.

 

But on that Friday,

 

we were part of the World of Wheels in Omaha at the Ch I Center.

 

We had a truck and a car show.

 

So my whole day was focused on a big marketing event and coming,

 

coming back from that marketing event with our equipment,

 

the the waters were over the,

 

the river and,

 

and certain,

 

and they were kind of coming across roads and,

 

you know,

 

so it was,

 

and I don’t know if that was the Thursday or the Friday,

 

but Evan might be able to weigh in more because,

 

you know,

 

at the time I didn’t live in Plattsmouth,

 

but I worked here and so,

 

you know,

 

Evan’s probably gonna have a lot more details living here and working here of that day.

 

I’d be curious.

 

Was it,

 

was that the Friday,

 

Evan?

 

So,

 

yeah,

 

I think that your,

 

your memory is pretty good there,

 

Ja,

 

and I think the Thursday was the day that,

 

that when we woke up,

 

we knew there could be uh some flooding,

 

but we didn’t know how bad it could be.

 

But by the end of the day,

 

it was clear that it was,

 

it was gonna be really bad.

 

And then Friday,

 

you know,

 

we already knew it was gonna be bad,

 

but then,

 

you know,

 

we didn’t realize that it was gonna be 500 years back.

 

Yeah,

 

that’s exactly what Roger said.

 

He said that you guys had actually suffered a flood back in,

 

I think it was 2011 maybe.

 

And he said,

 

well,

 

we were prepared for another 2011 flood,

 

but within a few hours,

 

we could tell that the 2019 flood was going to be far worse.

 

Would you agree with that Evan?

 

Yeah,

 

unfortunately,

 

that was the case.

 

So II I heard Evan that you had a pretty big hand in the in all the,

 

it,

 

that,

 

that was moved.

 

Now,

 

you had a big,

 

uh,

 

a big task in front of you because any time that there is a uncontrollably rushing water coming into things,

 

technology tends to be the first thing that goes because it can’t get wet at all.

 

How were you able to secure the computer system and get all of that data and information to where liquid trucking was going to be operating for the interim while you guys cleaned up all the damage.

 

Well,

 

you know,

 

I’d love to say that,

 

that I had a great plan and,

 

and we just executed the,

 

the plan as,

 

as it was written.

 

But,

 

you know,

 

I,

 

I didn’t have uh a plan for this at all.

 

And so,

 

yeah,

 

you,

 

you’re right like the technology was the first thing that people started to go.

 

Ok,

 

what are we gonna do here?

 

And,

 

you know,

 

thankfully,

 

Marcus,

 

we had just a lot of people who rallied around me and around the technology that needed to get moved that everybody understood the importance of.

 

So I remember really vividly,

 

you know,

 

on,

 

on Friday,

 

like dispatch and guys from the truck shop were in the server room with me and we took everything out of the rack.

 

Uh We powered everything down after we were done dispatching for the day,

 

we took everything out of the rack,

 

we cut a hole in the ceiling and we re cabled and reconnected everything upstairs in,

 

in Mike bins office at the time.

 

And so,

 

you know,

 

really,

 

not,

 

not,

 

not so much a plan is just people rallying and coming up with the best thing that we could do at the time.

 

Sure.

 

Well,

 

and it might be good that you didn’t have a plan.

 

I,

 

I’m taken back to my favorite Mike Tyson quote.

 

Which man,

 

I’m surprised I have one of those,

 

but my favorite Mike Tyson quote is everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

 

And it kind of seems like you guys got punched in the face here a little bit.

 

And even if you had a plan with the scale of this flood,

 

it,

 

it might not have worked.

 

Devin,

 

you guys might have had to punt just,

 

just because of how bad things were.

 

Now,

 

I understood or I understand that you were actually utilizing air boats to,

 

to wrap technology in plastic,

 

various technology,

 

computer servers and the like and airboat them off the property.

 

Is that correct?

 

Yeah,

 

it,

 

it wasn’t the kind of airboat ride that you’d want,

 

but it was,

 

it was the one we did that day.

 

I remember that was Peyton Rockwell.

 

That was his first airboat ride was,

 

you know,

 

I,

 

I can’t remember if it was into the office or,

 

or it must have been both ways.

 

He got air.

 

We all got air boated in on Saturday and then we had to be air boated out.

 

So Friday,

 

you know,

 

obviously the flood was really bad,

 

you know,

 

and,

 

and to my knowledge,

 

we still were able to drive in that Friday and then left on air boats that Friday or,

 

or,

 

you know,

 

maybe,

 

maybe we’re able to drive out that Friday.

 

But Saturday,

 

everybody had to be air boated in and air boated out.

 

The,

 

the office was still operational but there was water,

 

you know,

 

inside the building.

 

So that day was the where we,

 

we kinda reached out,

 

made a cry for help.

 

And yeah,

 

you’re right.

 

Like we probably,

 

even if we would have had a plan,

 

we would have had to deviate from it because we,

 

we found out that we would be moving into the,

 

it was the Greg Young Chrysler dealership up on the hill and in Platt that morning.

 

So,

 

you know,

 

yeah,

 

we,

 

we,

 

we had,

 

it was a very much a uh you know,

 

whole community effort,

 

you know,

 

and,

 

and a lot of people coming together to really help out in,

 

in our time of need.

 

Yeah,

 

it sounds like it.

 

What a great community that you guys have,

 

have made your home in there,

 

not only for liquid trucking,

 

but your personal homes as well.

 

And I know that when this was happening,

 

a lot of people were worried not only about the company,

 

but they were worried about their own homes.

 

A lot of people in your family,

 

Evan and and be whipple as well have weighed in on the fact that they were coming to work knowing that their house was inundated with water.

 

Was that similar to you?

 

Did you,

 

were you living in a house that was flooding at the time as well?

 

No,

 

I personally was not.

 

But,

 

but yeah,

 

there were a number of people who were not just affected at their workspace there at liquid trucking but,

 

but their personal homes were affected.

 

Thankfully,

 

I thankfully I was,

 

I was not affected by that,

 

but you know,

 

that was a huge aspect of this particular flood.

 

Yeah.

 

And Gabe told me about a,

 

a Mennonite group that came in a Christian ministry that came in shortly after water receded and started helping everybody there from liquid,

 

you know,

 

get the demolition that needed to be done at the houses done and,

 

and working for free.

 

That just again is a testament to the great community that you all live in and have had a hand in building Jason.

 

I,

 

I do wanna go to you here for a little bit of a,

 

of a retrospective.

 

If you will in 2019,

 

you’re,

 

you’re living in the moment.

 

Obviously,

 

you’re watching all of this stuff happen when you look back on it.

 

Now,

 

from 2020 four’s perspective,

 

can you believe that everything worked out the way that it did?

 

I,

 

I mean,

 

I have to imagine with devastation,

 

like you guys were looking at out the front door of the terminal,

 

there had to be some trepidation,

 

there had to be some thoughts that creeped in every now and then of,

 

man,

 

I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to recover from this.

 

I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to keep this up and running.

 

Uh,

 

now that you look back on it,

 

how,

 

how everything is planned out Jason do you feel?

 

I guess I shouldn’t even ask if you feel a certain way.

 

What are your thoughts on how the company and the community was able to deal with this?

 

Patch it up and get back to life as normal?

 

Well,

 

I just remember and I’m gonna back up a little bit and give some credit to,

 

you know,

 

just Roger Schmidt,

 

the Schmidt family and the,

 

the,

 

the Plattsmouth community.

 

I,

 

I didn’t have a doubt for a second.

 

One of the things you learn when you kind of start working here,

 

it doesn’t take long to figure out how much they give to the area.

 

When Josh and others started reaching out on Facebook.

 

I knew that it wouldn’t take much for other people to jump in.

 

In fact,

 

I’ll tell a quick little story.

 

I came to work.

 

I don’t even know what day it was when the water had had receded and we’re starting to clean up the office and I looked at this fella and I was like,

 

he’s just tearing out walls and I’m like I asked him,

 

like,

 

who are you?

 

I’ve never met you before.

 

Like,

 

he’s like,

 

well,

 

I’m,

 

I’m Brian and ended up being Brian Leaks.

 

First time I met him and he’s a family friend,

 

local community.

 

I never met the guy,

 

but here he was tearing out the walls after they were flooded.

 

And,

 

uh,

 

I’m just like,

 

he,

 

I’m like,

 

did we hire you or how did you get here?

 

And he goes,

 

no,

 

no,

 

I know Roger,

 

I’m here to help and he had his kids with him or some workers and,

 

and,

 

and I turned to Roger later and he goes,

 

he,

 

he’s just helping,

 

don’t worry,

 

do whatever he says.

 

And I just started taking direction,

 

whatever this guy needed,

 

haul this,

 

tear this whatever,

 

you know,

 

but to,

 

to get back to the fact that,

 

you know,

 

when I first started working here in 2013,

 

you hear all these different stories and you see it and,

 

and so it,

 

I knew that people were gonna chip in it.

 

It just didn’t really resonate until it started all happening from so many angles as Evan would te would test him,

 

you know,

 

testify to that no matter where you turn,

 

there was somebody like kind of willing to help or do something from,

 

you know,

 

his it partners or just people with space or this or that.

 

And then,

 

you know,

 

there was a phone call that Josh made really early on a Saturday morning,

 

I was still laying in bed and I’m like,

 

what can I do?

 

You know,

 

I’m not living there.

 

I’m in pavilion at the time and,

 

and you know,

 

he just has this like rallying phone call of,

 

well,

 

here’s what,

 

you know,

 

and I think he used the word dad as in Roger and this is what we’re gonna do and this and you can come do this and,

 

you know,

 

it was just like,

 

boom,

 

it was time to go and,

 

and everybody did what they could in their own way.

 

Like Evan said,

 

you know,

 

from the truck shop to the trailer shop to tank wash,

 

whether it’s it or,

 

you know,

 

everybody brings a different aspect to what they do and,

 

and how they pitched in for sure.

 

I I’m also reminded of the adage that it takes a village to raise a child,

 

you know,

 

take the child part out of it and say it takes a village to,

 

to come together and help a company like this.

 

You know,

 

obviously the Schmidts give a lot back to their community and the community wanted to,

 

you know,

 

say,

 

thank you for that in spades by coming through and helping liquid trucking.

 

And then you got the Schmitz that turn around and say,

 

well,

 

you know,

 

that was real nice of you guys to help us.

 

We’re just gonna fill the community pool for a summer and send 77 or 78 trips.

 

Excuse me,

 

trucks up there one a day to keep that pool full.

 

It,

 

it’s just that back and forth is something that you don’t find in a lot of overly metropolitan areas.

 

You know,

 

you guys aren’t very far from Omaha there,

 

but when you’re out in Plattsmouth,

 

you don’t get the feeling that you’re that close to a major metropolitan area.

 

It is a small community.

 

It’s a close knit community and having grown up in a community like that,

 

um,

 

you can see that you can feel it.

 

It’s a different vibe out there and it’s a really good one.

 

And I,

 

I think everybody in the community there in Platts Smith is lucky,

 

including everybody at Liquid and,

 

and also outside the company.

 

They’re lucky that that’s the way that the community operates because,

 

I mean,

 

we could still be dealing with this devastation if it weren’t for all the help that people were willing to chip in.

 

And,

 

uh,

 

you know,

 

if they live on high ground,

 

come on down and get your feet wet.

 

We got work to do.

 

Yeah,

 

I would agree.

 

And I gotta give Evan a little more credit because he’s probably not gonna give it to himself.

 

But we had,

 

you know,

 

at the time,

 

one person in our IT department,

 

which is Evan and many other things at a small company,

 

we all wear a lot of hats and Evan wears many.

 

Well,

 

we have two now,

 

plus our vendor partners that help us manage things.

 

But I remember being at the car lot the next week on a plastic table,

 

I think we went somewhere and bought plastic chairs and tables and we pretty much occupied a car lot and everybody was sitting down working,

 

whether it’s on a laptop or a full computer,

 

a desk space,

 

like it was almost a seamless move to put all these office folks to work and,

 

and you know,

 

granted they help move things and stuff.

 

But what an accomplishment to keep everybody working,

 

having access to all that stuff,

 

billing loads,

 

dispatching loads.

 

I mean,

 

there is a lot behind the scenes that has to happen to keep an organization this big supported and all the people paid,

 

you know,

 

payroll was a big one.

 

Like I,

 

I was sitting there thinking like,

 

man,

 

how are we gonna get everybody paid on Friday the next week?

 

You know,

 

as this is happening and with within,

 

you know,

 

by Wednesday of the next week,

 

I didn’t have a shred of a doubt.

 

It was all gonna be able to happen.

 

It was pretty miraculous.

 

It sounds like it and,

 

and Evan,

 

I’ll tell you right now if there’s ever been a time where you could throw your shoulder out,

 

patting yourself on the back,

 

it sounds like now might be the time my friend because this,

 

the more I hear about it,

 

the technological mountain that you had to climb to keep everything moving forward with the way that everything that we do is on a computer anymore.

 

You were in the face of some pretty outstanding odds and,

 

and we’re able to keep everything up and running.

 

Do you ever look back on that and feel a bit of a sense of accomplishment for that Evan?

 

You know,

 

I,

 

I do think that that was just a,

 

you know,

 

a,

 

a beautiful thing that happened.

 

There was a lot of,

 

a lot of little miracles that led up to that big miracle of like Jason saying,

 

whether it was payroll being ran next week or the phones being lit up and our dispatchers sending loads,

 

you know,

 

it was,

 

it was a miracle and you know,

 

it just,

 

it just came down to everybody,

 

everybody saying,

 

you know,

 

let’s just take one step and then,

 

you know,

 

after we take that step,

 

we’ll take the next step and,

 

and a lot of people came alongside for that.

 

I,

 

you know,

 

Jason’s right,

 

like the way that this community works is,

 

is a beautiful thing to watch in action.

 

I remember a guy,

 

Aaron Clark,

 

he actually worked for our ISP at the time and he came down to meet us.

 

It’s a wireless ISP which we put in a long time ago when we had,

 

you know,

 

the floods in 2011 because sometimes these traditional internet service providers were,

 

you know,

 

just slow to move.

 

And,

 

and so Aaron met us when we were touring facilities on Saturday morning that we were gonna move into.

 

You know,

 

if you could imagine,

 

you know,

 

you go from,

 

ok,

 

we can’t work where we are to,

 

you know,

 

a few hours later you’re,

 

you’re at,

 

you know,

 

our,

 

our good friends,

 

you know,

 

Henry hobs shit,

 

you know,

 

Corey.

 

Corey was invited us out to say,

 

hey,

 

we’ve got this space we haven’t quite moved into,

 

you know,

 

come see if you guys can operate out of this.

 

You know,

 

this is,

 

you know,

 

at eight o’clock in the morning on a Saturday morning,

 

you know,

 

as,

 

as the flood waters are rising,

 

you know,

 

and then actually,

 

while we were on to our next spot,

 

Keeler’s place there on,

 

you know,

 

right off highway 75 you know,

 

Aaron Clark meets us there to see if we can mount a wireless antenna to receive internet at that location and keep the lights on,

 

keep running.

 

And then after we finally went to the last place,

 

which was the dealership,

 

you know,

 

it was clear that this was the best place of,

 

of the three places that we’ve been to.

 

And so we called it and said,

 

hey,

 

we’re moving here and that’s kind of how decisions go on a day like that.

 

Aaron stuck around.

 

You know,

 

he,

 

he’s,

 

he’s no stranger to all things.

 

It and he helped me move all the switches,

 

make sure everything that was unplugged,

 

got plugged back in and was working and,

 

and,

 

you know,

 

that was a guy who,

 

you know,

 

I’d,

 

I’d,

 

I’d known Aaron,

 

we’d interacted,

 

you know,

 

we were,

 

we were business partners and so we,

 

you know,

 

we had emails exchanged from time to time.

 

But I hadn’t,

 

I hadn’t sat down to lunch with Aaron.

 

I hadn’t,

 

you know,

 

I hadn’t been to his house and he hadn’t been to mine,

 

you know,

 

but here he was on a Saturday afternoon,

 

he probably put in eight hours that day on a Saturday nonetheless.

 

Yeah,

 

on a Saturday.

 

Just out of.

 

No,

 

no forewarning.

 

No.

 

You know,

 

like here’s,

 

he cleared his schedule to be there to make sure that we were gonna be up and running.

 

Our lights are on and,

 

and that’s just one of many stories you go.

 

I remember there’s a picture I have in my head of Saturday and,

 

and this was around the time that Aaron was helping us relocate off the air boats and then up to the top of the hill and the,

 

the road that goes up the hill,

 

it’s basically where Webster Boulevard Curves and becomes Bay Road there before highway 75.

 

You know,

 

that road was lined,

 

all of Blacksmiths,

 

volunteer firefighters and the Murray and the Na Haka volunteer fire department and every volunteer,

 

you know,

 

in,

 

in the 1520 mile radius was out there with hip waiters just begging to help.

 

And it was,

 

uh,

 

you know,

 

it’s one of those things that you just go,

 

this is,

 

this is God working people because,

 

you know,

 

I don’t,

 

I don’t understand how,

 

you know,

 

in the world we live in.

 

When you see all the negativity and,

 

and the hatred and the discontent,

 

you’ve got something that’s completely the opposite of that.

 

And it,

 

and it’s right there.

 

It’s your neighbors and it was just a beautiful thing.

 

Yeah,

 

it really,

 

and,

 

and well told on that too because you,

 

the way you describe it is as a,

 

a very beautiful thing that as I said before,

 

it just doesn’t happen everywhere.

 

And it seems like you guys really set the standard out there in Plattsmouth,

 

Nebraska for community coming together and helping out for the greater good.

 

And it’s just been so much fun on this episode to I,

 

I mean,

 

it,

 

it’s hard to say the word fun and,

 

and talk about a devastating flood at the same time.

 

What it’s been fun to hear about is how well everybody recovered because everybody was there to help both personally and professionally.

 

Um And,

 

and I just can’t thank you guys enough for coming on the show today and,

 

and sharing your stories.

 

Um Jason before we uh let you guys go,

 

I,

 

I wanna make sure that we touch on everything that you,

 

you,

 

you came here wanting to touch on today.

 

Is there anything else about this?

 

Great 500 year flood that we need to talk about before we let you go.

 

Like most episodes.

 

I,

 

I like to end,

 

you know,

 

just with the fact that we had a lot of current drivers that are still working here that were around at that time.

 

And the,

 

the drivers again,

 

you know,

 

a testament.

 

They’re out there all over the country,

 

being patient wherever they’re at.

 

No,

 

they’re accepting communication from everybody.

 

Hey,

 

this is going on and,

 

you know,

 

they had their lives interrupted too in terms of,

 

you know,

 

their services were done somewhere else for a while.

 

Like there were a lot of ripple effects even though the drivers weren’t here at the time.

 

Some were,

 

some weren’t.

 

But although all this miracle was happening,

 

the drivers were still putting in the effort to deal with all of these differences that,

 

that ripple out to them in the truck,

 

you know,

 

having to call a different number or wait longer or,

 

you know,

 

it was short lived,

 

but,

 

you know,

 

just kudos to everybody and wanted to thank those that were around at the time,

 

you know,

 

for their patience too and their help.

 

I’m sure there were many drivers helping.

 

I could start naming names,

 

but I don’t want to because I’m gonna forget one.

 

So just a kudos to all the guys that pitched in hats off all the way around.

 

And,

 

you know,

 

it’s,

 

it’s a,

 

it’s a very valiant effort by all take everybody pulling their weight and the more I hear about this story,

 

the more I hear that not only was everybody pulling their weight,

 

but they were pulling extra weight as well to help Evan,

 

anything else on your mind before I let you go here?

 

Any final thoughts for us on this whole thing?

 

Thanks Marcus.

 

Uh I think it was,

 

you know,

 

it was a really difficult trial,

 

but I think like you said it,

 

you know,

 

you can kind of describe the overcoming of it in a way that that uh really makes you feel good,

 

you know,

 

so it,

 

it’s a hard,

 

hard situation but you feel like we came together in a way that we were stronger,

 

you know,

 

coming through,

 

it was kind of how I,

 

how I was experiencing.

 

Yeah.

 

You know,

 

like the word,

 

I wouldn’t necessarily say the word fun but,

 

you know,

 

like the,

 

the real resilience that you see is encouraging and hopeful and,

 

and you,

 

you’re,

 

you’re stronger on the other side.

 

Yeah.

 

So,

 

yeah,

 

well,

 

put,

 

so,

 

you know,

 

tragedy tends to galvanize community and whether we’re talking about the smaller community of Liquid Trucking or we’re talking about the larger community of Plattsmouth and the surrounding areas.

 

I think one thing that happened here is this community was galvanized and it will be hundreds of years before this is ever forgotten.

 

And,

 

and Liquid Trucking is a big reason for that both in,

 

in staying moving and,

 

and keeping all of the great goods that you guys supply in your customers hands when they needed them.

 

And then also helping the community out something as simple as filling the local swimming pool.

 

It’s just all these stories have been fantastic.

 

Again,

 

I can’t say thank you enough,

 

Jason Eisenman.

 

Appreciate the time as always my friend and we’ll hear from you again very soon.

 

I’m sure.

 

Likewise.

 

See you guys.

 

Thank you so much.

 

And of course,

 

Evan Schmidt,

 

thank you,

 

my friend.

 

We’ll get you back on here again.

 

You did really well for your first time out,

 

man.

 

I’m thinking this is gonna have to become a more regular thing.

 

Well,

 

I appreciate it,

 

Marcus and thanks for what you’re doing there at the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

 

Hey,

 

I have a great time.

 

I feel very privileged to get to work with such a great company.

 

Thanks to Jason and Evan for wrapping up this episode of the Liquid Trucking podcast.

 

You guys have been great again.

 

We’ll talk to you soon.

 

I wanna throw out a huge thank you to everyone that came on this episode,

 

Tanner Bowman,

 

Josh Schmidt,

 

Gabe Schmidt,

 

Roger Schmidt,

 

Evan Schmidt,

 

Be Whipple and Jason Eisenman,

 

you guys sharing your stories really brought this thing home.

 

Uh You know,

 

I’d heard about this flood.

 

I had done research,

 

I had seen the magazine and newspaper articles.

 

I’d seen some footage,

 

but nothing compares to hearing the stories of those that dealt with it firsthand.

 

And uh you should definitely go check out the podcast website,

 

head over to Liquid trucking.com and click the learn more link where you see the picture of me and the podcast logo.

 

We are going to have an entire Google drive photo folder for you to look through photos taken by uh Liquid employees Tanner Bowman,

 

Evan Schmidt and Peyton Rockwell,

 

uh with their drones show the true devastation that the area surrounding liquid trucking dealt with during the 500 year flood.

 

Please go to the website.

 

If you would like to see those pictures,

 

uh,

 

they will be linked up there and you can also see where Liquid Trucking was on the cover of Nebraska Trucking Magazine.

 

And uh the picture that they used for the cover is worth millions and millions of words and millions and millions of gallons of water.

 

Uh It’s phenomenal.

 

Go to the website,

 

check all that stuff out while you’re there.

 

Listen to some of the past episodes.

 

If you want to get in touch with me,

 

there’s a way to do that right there from the podcast website.

 

Again,

 

you can navigate to that by going to Liquid trucking.com and click the banner right at the top of the page where you see the podcast logo and my picture,

 

sorry in advance for the fact that you have to see a picture out of or of me.

 

Um That does it for us today.

 

Episode 23 of the Liquid Trucking Podcast is in the books,

 

fantastic job by everyone involved,

 

but I gotta get out of here.

 

We’re already running long and I’m just babbling to make us run longer now.

 

So keep the shiny side up.

 

We’ll see you next week.

 

Liquid Trucking.

 

Thanks for tuning in and being the gold standard of drivers on the road.

 

Be sure to like and subscribe to the channel and tune in next week for another episode of the Liquid Trucking podcast.