Hurricane Irene's destructive path towards Inagua saw Morton Salt cease operations yesterday as one thing became clear for workers still smarting from inclement weather weeks earlier -- when it rains, it pours.
Managing Director Glenn Bannister confirmed to Guardian Business that the north-westernly path of the hurricane prompted a production halt starting from 3:30pm yesterday.
"We are bracing for the storm by early Wednesday," he said.  "The last hurricane was Ike and it did a tremendous amount of damage.
"[Monday] morning we pulled all the boats out of the water, tied all the conveyor belts, secured the power plants."
He said employees then left to take the necessary precautions for the storm and secure their homes.
Presently, the operation relies on Inagua's typically arid weather conditions to produce salt by allowing saltwater in ponds to evaporate, which in turn stimulates the formation of salt crystals at the bottom of the pond.  Excessive rain reverses the process and dissolves the salt crystals in the ponds, leaving the facility without product to harvest.
The loss of production at the salt facility will likely cost the company thousands of dollars in missed opportunities.
This unexpected disaster comes after layoffs of around 100 workers earlier this month as a result of excessive rain.  The situation left the facility with approximately one-third of its original staff complement to maintain and ship its inventory of previously harvested salt and to perform other necessary operations.
While Morton said earlier that it intended to resume operations as soon as possible, the Inagua-based company was expected to closely monitor the weather conditions to determine how quickly the salt ponds and production can be restored.
"As a long-time member of the Inagua community, Morton is committed to its operation and employees," Bannister said earlier.  "I am confident that we will get through this challenging time together, as we have done in the past."
It's unclear at this point what kind of affect Hurricane Irene will have on future production at the plant, say officials from the company's head office.
"We can't predict how the weather will affect operations," said a company spokesperson, "until the storm has passed."

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