ACE Communications Group is still trying to recover from August floods that swamped the Rushford company's electronics, caused an estimated $3 million in damage and left more than 1,700 customers without phone, cable and Internet service.
Chief Executive Officer David Schroeder said a central office was filled with five feet of water after the flood, burying equipment and cutting service to customers in Rushford, Peterson and Lanesboro.
Restoring phone service was the company's first priority. Schroeder said it took about 10 days to complete with crews working 12- to 14-hour days.
While ACE still has a long way to go with restoring cable TV service, its Internet service is largely repaired.
"It's been a gradual process," said information systems manager John Nitecki. "We've worked really hard to get those services available to businesses that really utilize the Internet."
The company is currently operating out of a trailer and determining how to rebuild to protect against future disasters.
"Right now we're looking at whether or not we should put all of our new equipment in the same building. We're trying to decide if a difference in architecture or maybe even a totally different location for the office would be more beneficial," Schroeder said.
Schroeder said the company chose to upgrade lost equipment rather than replace it. Because industry technology changes so rapidly, Schroeder said, several of the items destroyed in the flood were already obsolete.
Although the number is very preliminary, Schroeder said, the company's loss could be more than $3 million.
"This is an educational experience," Schroeder said. "We're asking ourselves a lot of questions. What are we learning from this? How do we modify our network to prevent something like this from happening again in the future?"
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