Cooper Tire’s Tupelo plant closed due to storm damage

Tupelo, MS – A severe, possibly tornadic storm roared through Tupelo late Friday night, ripping away a portion of the roof at Cooper Tire, which employs 1,700 people reports the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

A spokesperson for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., the company parent of Cooper Tire, said in an email that the extent of the damage to their facility is still being assessed.

“We are currently evaluating the extent of the impact of the tornado on the facility; we have nothing further to share,” the spokesperson said.

On Saturday, Cooper Tire manufacturing director Colby Clodfelter said cleanup efforts would continue over the weekend and into this week.

“We have some structural engineers looking at any other possible damage,” Clodfelter said.

Clodfelter said damage to the plant’s roof was obvious, and photos of the exterior taken earlier in the day also showed loading dock doors blown open and some truck trailers blown into each other on the east side of the building.