Members of the Minnesota Ballet had mere minutes on Monday to grab what they could carry from their offices in the Board of Trade Building, which has been closed since its 50-foot chimney crashed through the seventh-floor roof during last week's storms.
Mary Gummerson, the ballet's executive managing director, recalled telling the people helping her to only grab what the ballet immediately needed for its Friday student performance at the Duluth Public Library and for upcoming September performances.
"No phones. No nothing. ...There's a lot more up there," Gummerson said. "The eighth floor is not damaged that much. It's the floors underneath."
The tons of chimney rubble fell through the ceiling of one of the costume storage rooms but the offices were not damaged.
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Sandy Hoff, president of F.I. Salter Real Estate Services, said they are still working on a timeline for a plan of action for the building. Tenants have been out of the building since Thursday.
In order to aid cleanup of the debris, a portion of West First Street will shut down Tuesday night between Third and Fourth avenues so contractors can construct a crane to remove the heavy damage from last week's storm.
The block will shut down 7 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday, a news release from the city of Duluth stated. Once that block-long section of First Street reopens, the crane will sit at the east end of the block for more repairs. Half of the block will temporarily be open to two-way traffic so cars can enter the parking garage at 315 W. First St., the news release said. The project will likely go on until Aug. 6.
Hoff said the crane will remove debris, including piping that weighs upwards of 7,000 pounds. The rest of the debris and chimney rubble will be removed from the building through chutes, he said.
Tenants are still out of the building, Hoff said, but a few of those with offices in low-risk areas were able to collect needed files. He said these "low-risk" areas of the building are on the northern two-thirds of the building, outside of the dangerous zone where the fallen chimney damaged the building's infrastructure.
Gummerson said the ballet has temporarily moved to a few offices across the street in the Missabe Building. Besides mourning for the ballet's lost or unreachable costumes some of which still lie under piles of rubble Gummerson said the building had a lot of historical value.
"It'd just be a shame to lose that all," she said.
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Thousands still without power
As of 9 p.m. Monday, Minnesota Power and Lake Country Power reported a combined total of about 6,500 customers without power, though numbers were fluctuating throughout the day on the utilities' online outage maps. That's down from more than 75,000 at the peak of the storm aftermath last Thursday.
Minnesota Power said it has 100 of its own lineworkers in the field, along with 159 others from other utility and electrical service companies in the state and region, plus 22 tree removal workers, with the majority of those working in the Hunters Park, Lakeside, Morley Heights and Woodland neighborhoods of Duluth.
Lake Country Power reported that it has 120 workers in the field.
"We're covering the most difficult terrain and hardest hit areas," said Todd Johnson, Lake Country Power's director of operations. "In some areas, it looks like a hurricane went through. We're getting to individual services and single taps along main roads. But the cross country work will take the most time - and patience for members and crews."
PREVIOUSLY: Power back on for some, others could go without until Thursday
