Chicken heaven must look like the mess that befell Midland Co-op Elevator on Thursday when a massive steel grain bin collapsed, scattering 45,000 bushels of corn on the ground.

“The good thing is nobody was working here and nobody got hurt,” said Adrian Derousseau, general manager of the elevator, 1419 N. 1941 Diagonal Road.

More than $100,000 worth of grain spilled when a 64-foot tall steel storage bin buckled at Midland Junction north of Lawrence.

Insurance investigators were still at the site of the collapse Thursday evening and no damage estimate had been set. The cause of the collapse also was under investigation and the remaining 15 bins at the site were being examined, Derousseau said.

The bin contained about 45,000 bushels of corn, Derousseau said. Its capacity was about 50,000 bushels. The price of corn on Thursday’s market was about $2.60 per bushel.

Derousseau declined to speculate what might have caused the collapse. Douglas County Sheriff’s officers sent to the scene shortly before 11 a.m. thought a defective seam might be behind the collapse, Lt. Kathy Tate said.

Rick Grimmett, owner of the nearby Midland Farm Store, 1401 N. 1941 Diagonal Road, said he didn’t know about the collapse until he received a phone call from a customer passing by on U.S. Highway 24. Grimmett called Ottawa Co-operative Assn., owners of the elevator.

Grimmett said neither he nor any of this employees heard the collapse.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical personnel string a restricted barrier around a grain storage tank at the Midland Co-op Elevator north of Lawrence. The tank collapsed Thursday morning, spilling about 45,000 bushels of corn. No injuries were reported.

“The electricity was disrupted for a second about that time, but I’m used to that and I didn’t think anything about it,” Grimmett said. “I’m surprised we didn’t hear anything, but the bin collapsing onto all that grain might not have made much of a sound.

The collapsed bin was one of 16 lined up in two rows along the south side of U.S. 24. Though the other bins were being examined, Derousseau said he didn’t think they were damaged.

“We’re fortunate it fell in the direction it did, but it took out the power room,” Derousseau said.

A salvage company coming from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will collect the spilled grain and remains of the bin.