Rain Carbon Inc, a manufacturer of carbon-based products and advanced materials has initiated a damage assessment at its Lake Charles calcination and energy production facility in Louisiana after being hit by Hurricane Laura on August 27.

Lake Charles and the surrounding Calcasieu Parish took a direct hit from the Category 4 hurricane.

“This was the strongest hurricane to hit Louisiana in more than 150 years, and our Lake Charles facility is impacted,” Gerry Sweeney, President, Rain Carbon said in a release.

All the employees of the company, an arm of the Hyderabad-based Rain Industries Ltd were safe. “During the past few days, we have managed to get our teams into the Lake Charles plant and terminal to assess the damage, and while it is not as severe as other companies are reporting, we have significant work to do to get the facility back to normal,’’ Sweeney said. The company, however, did not give any estimated timeline for the restart of the facility or the cost of repairs.

“The good news is that we have access to well water and generators are on their way to the plant, which should speed our restart. We are also developing alternatives and workarounds, which should allow us to produce and ship product while repairs are ongoing,” the executive said.

The duration of needed repairs to the plant and terminal, as well as the inability to transport calcined petroleum coke by barge and ship until the region’s debris-clogged waterways are cleared, will necessitate the company declare force majeure on certain shipments.

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