As floodwaters started to rise to biblical proportions this past summer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, John Bloomhall went to work on a plan for the quick recovery of his company, which was in the heart of the disaster zone.

The president of Diamond V Mills Inc. said the company had to contend with a "very significant mess" at its headquarters and sole manufacturing plant, where water was lapping at the ceiling tiles on the first floor of the building.

But little more than a week after shutting down, the livestock feed producer was back in operation.

Bloomhall was the keynote speaker at Thursday night's Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry's 32nd annual Agriculture Industry Banquet at Shady Maple Banquet and Conference Center.

The core values of Diamond V are what kept the company in business, Bloomhall said, including honesty, integrity, respect for other businesses, good stewardship and more than anything — passion.

"Passion for excellence, passion in our people and passion in our community is saving our community and it saved our business," Bloomhall said.

On June 2 the Cedar River rose above the 12-foot flood stage in downtown Cedar Rapids, but few residents took notice. Flooding is not uncommon in the Midwest city, where most of the municipal buildings are on an island.

By June 13 — a Friday — the river had crested at more than 31 feet, 11 feet higher than the previous flooding record of 20 feet in 1851. Nine city blocks of Cedar Rapids were underwater.

Bloomhall calls himself an "eternal optimist," but he said he felt low when he saw the cover of the Cedar Rapids Gazette with a photo of the entire downtown under water.

Bloomhall is the third generation of his family to own the business, and he feared Diamond V would disappear under his watch.

"Think if it was your business, your farm, whatever, and you thought you were going to lose it," Bloomhall said.

Fortunately, Bloomhall and his employees had started to act well before the water reached their site. They moved their e-mail server to a new location, and started buying new equipment right away, even before they had taken a full assessment of how much damage was done.

Bloomhall said the cleanup and reopening operations were like putting together a large jigsaw puzzle.

When employees were allowed on the plant site again, on June 19, the reopening process was already well under way.

"Fortunately, we were not frozen into inaction because of the magnitude of the event," Bloomhall said.

Six company employees were among the 10,000 people displaced by the flood, Bloomhall said. They were encouraged to get their lives and homes in order before returning to work.

Everyone worked hard, and at 8 p.m. July 3, Dryer 1 came online, meaning that the manufacturing plant was 100-percent operational once again.

Diamond V was the first company in Cedar Rapids to reopen completely after the historic flood, Bloomhall said.

The company sells its products in 45 countries around the world. It has been selling to China for more than a decade.

"As all these Wal-Mart containers are coming over, we're shipping them back with Diamond V in them," Bloomhall said.

In addition to Bloomhall's keynote address, the banquet featured an awards ceremony. George Hurst, co-owner of Oregon Dairy, received the George C. Delp Award, given to a Lancaster County resident who has made a significant contribution to local agriculture.

The Dean Edward Bare Farm in Bird-in-Hand and a farm owned by Michael and Deborah Barry-Leininger were given the Century Farm Award, recognizing farms operated by the same family for at least 100 years.

E-mail: myoder@lnpnews.com