City Manager Details Salina’s Cleanup and Emergency Response After Monday’s Storm

Salina311 received questions from residents about what the City of Salina is doing to support cleanup and recovery efforts following Monday’s severe storm.

Salina City Manager Jacob Wood said multiple city departments have been working throughout the community to clear roads, restore public infrastructure, maintain essential services and respond to emergency calls.

“Our street crews have been removing debris from the streets to make the streets passable,” Wood said.

Crews are also working to restore traffic signals damaged or displaced during the storm.

“Many of the lights had to be repositioned, and as the power has come back on, we have had to make sure they are operating properly,” Wood said.

The Salina Fieldhouse has been open during the daytime to provide residents with a cooling location while power restoration continues across the city.

The city is also accepting tree limbs at the landfill at no charge. City crews will conduct curbside limb collection throughout the community.

“All we ask is that people take their limbs to the street and try to keep them at a manageable length so that we can more easily pick them up,” Wood said.

Residents should place limbs near the street without blocking traffic, sidewalks or drainage areas.

Water and wastewater crews have also been working to maintain drinking water and sewer services during widespread power outages.

“We have many lift stations throughout the community that have pumps that need power to operate,” Wood said. “Our crews have had to take generators all over town to make sure the sewage is being pumped.”

Generators were also taken to water sources to keep water moving to treatment facilities.

Wood said police officers, firefighters and emergency dispatchers have faced an increased call volume since the storm.

“Our police and fire crews have been responding to all types of calls,” Wood said. “We have had multiple residential fires. We continue to respond to medical calls.”

Additional police, fire and dispatch employees who were not scheduled to work were called in to help manage the response.

“We have had to call in crews who were not on shift to help and manage the call volume,” Wood said. “We also had to call in dispatchers.”

Wood said the city’s storm response has involved a wide range of services across multiple departments as Salina continues its recovery.