LINWOOD, Kan. — Mark Illausky said some days it feels like he’s done so much to rebuild his wholesale plant business, Free State Growers, since a tornado destroyed it last year.
Other days, he feels like there’s still a long road ahead.
But there’s one thing he knows for certain, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“Next year, all of this is going to be done and behind us and hopefully we won’t be doing any construction and we’ll just be growing plants,” IIllausky said.
The National Weather Service said winds reached 170 miles per hour as a tornado ripped through Linwood, Kansas, on May 28, 2019. The tornado destroyed many of the greenhouses and the office building at Free State Growers, carrying some pieces of debris nearly 40 miles away.
Illausky is rebuilding taller, more efficient greenhouses, but admits there’s no such thing as a tornado-proof greenhouse.
He’s completed the first of three phases of rebuilding. He said phase two is about 80 percent complete and phase three, the smallest phase, is underway.
Throughout the entire rebuilding process, Free State Growers has remained open for business. It received help from other growers around the country to keep up with demand.
Free State Growers sells house plants on a wholesale basis to grocery and hardware stores.
The day the tornado hit, one employee of Free State Growers was at the nursery and hid under a tractor. The employee survived and continues to work for Free State Growers.
Illausky said the company is still using the tractor, too.
