John Deere Articulated Dump Trucks Put to Work in Hurricane Aftermath

Following Hurricane Charlie in 2004, a real-estate development boom left developers with the challenge of plotting new subdivisions in previously uninhabitable land.

With lowlands soggier than ever from 155-mph horizontal hurricane rains, contractors like Halifax Paving of Ormond Beach, Fla., bought 20 new John Deere 250D articulated dump trucks (ADTs) to accommodate the wet topography.

“We hauled with four-wheel-drive trucks until we got tired of getting stuck. We got a chance to demo a Deere 250D in very tough conditions where lowland clay had stopped our other trucks in their tracks,” says Fred Iannotti, purchasing manager for Halifax. “The 250D pulled the holes and walked right around the stranded trucks.”