One of the first permanent structures to be rebuilt was the steel water tower, for which a 275 USt capacity Grove GMK5275 all terrain crane was employed to lift the four sections of the tower into place. These included the 44,000lbs, 28ft-tall conical base section; the 42,000lbs, 83.5ft-long, 7ft-wide column; the 37,000lbs, 22ft-tall, 30ft-wide top tank; and the 8,000lbs, 34ft-long drywell.

For the lift, the crane was set up with 112,400lbs of counterweight, 194ft of boom and worked at a radius of 60ft.

The GMK5275 drew a crowd as it worked to erect the water tower

Trand Crane, the lifting subcontractor for the job, said the lift went “really well” and was completed in less than a day. Terry Arnett, owners of Trand, said the only real problem the company had was the number of people attracted to the work. Not only was the work special as it was one of the first structures to be rebuilt following the tornado, it was also filmed by the Discovery Channel for its documentary on the rebuilding of Greensburg.

“There were nearly 400 people watching us lift the tower sections into place,” Arnett said. “The most challenging part of the job was keeping people back from the lift site.”