We took a direct hit from Hurricane IAN but our operations were not impacted

I greatly apologize for the delay in getting a message out about this, but as most of you know by now, Hurricane IAN was one Historic storm.

The Cape Haze peninsula is where we call home, and where all of your BEIER Apparel is designed. This area saw the worst of the wind from IAN as we entered the Northern Eye Wall (sustained winds over 120mph gusts to 160mph) around 1230PM. This was Wednesday, and we had already had Tropical Storm force squalls for the prior 15 hours at that point. 

It all went down hill from there, as IAN turned hard right, squeezed by a front to the North and the Atlantic blocking High to the southeast - this pulled him directly into Charlotte Harbor. For us, we never saw the eye-wall, and we lost power at 1230pm, and would not see it again for 12 days. We certainly wondered why it wasn't letting up, and what happened to the eye, as even a breather may have helped some of our cherished trees. Instead though, IAN stalled over the Harbor and the Eye Wall structure broke down. I can say first hand, you don't want that to happen haha. We can laugh about it now, we have to right?

What that did was allow the fiercest winds, reaching upwards of 200mph at 2000 feet to get funneled down to the ground over and over. From about 4PM onward to nearly 11PM that night, the storm just increased its rage over and over. The result was a massive loss of trees. If i had to estimate, and it is just an estimate, i would say 50% are lost and 80-90% or more were impacted in some way, either tipped, or broken apart half way, depending on the exact scenario at each spot. 

The good news is we are a great and strong group of people here, and I am even more proud to represent this area with each of our products. The birds returned right away, the trees and plants, even the now sideways ones, have all sprouted new leaves, and you can feel Renewal in the air. 

Thank you all for the immense love and strength sent our way. We received it, we felt it, and it truly helped us keep smiles as we grow out of this stronger than ever 

R.B.