Peace River Citrus: When the Hurricanes Struck

Peace River Citrus is a juice processing plant in Arcadia, FL constructed years earlier by PCI. The plant has five tank farms built with insulated metal panels and single ply roof systems. The first tank farm holds 10 storage tanks; each of the other four hold 12 storage tanks -- that makes a total of 58 storage tanks, each storing approximately 250,000 gallons of concentrate orange juice, or 116 million gallons.

In mid-August of 2004, Hurricane Charley, a category 4 hurricane, severely damaged all five of the Peace River Citrus tank farms. All of the insulated panels and supporting structural steel supports around the citrus storage tanks were torn, twisted, punctured, stripped or gnarled. Although damaged, the tank farms were left standing.

PCI was called in to provide repairs. PCI crews covered the tanks with industrial tarps to cover gaping holes and applied spray urethane on the tarps to maintain the tank rooms +15 degree Fahrenheit operating temperatures. This action saved thousands of gallons of concentrate orange juice from spoilage.

On September 5th, just as a lot of PCI’s temporary repairs had been set in place, Hurricane Frances swept in and battered Florida for almost 30 hours. Frances, like its predecessor Charley, once again damaged Peace River Citrus. Fortunately, this time the damage was not as great.

At the end of the hurricane season, PCI got back to the task of removing the damaged roofs and insulated panel sections. These were completely retrofitted with new roofing, insulated panels, vapor barriers, refrigerated doors and metal trim. The structural steel was reinforced before the insulated panels were reinstalled to allow for greater wind resistance.

PCI supplied and installed roofing and insulated panels to five refrigerated tank farms, replaced the ceiling panels in the Juice Extractor Room, replaced sections of flooring and the roof on the drum storage freezer, rebuilt the 40 degree cold citrus oil storage room, and refurbished the quality control, laboratory, shipping and receiving offices as well as break rooms and restrooms. We met all schedules and expectations and, as a result, Peace River was fully operational in time for the winter Juice Season.