Saline County Adopts Official Disaster Declaration

The Saline County Commission formally adopted a state of emergency disaster declaration (Resolution 26-2451) following the severe storm that struck the county the prior Monday, Emergency Management Director Michelle Weis told commissioners.

Weis said winds reached 113 miles per hour as the storm moved through Saline County, leaving more than 45,000 residents served by Evergy and DSNO without power for more than 48 hours. In the initial hours, emergency responders fielded over 3,000 emergent and non-emergent calls for service handled by the Police Department, Sheriff's Office, Fire Department and EMS. Commissioners had verbally declared the emergency on Monday night at 2148 hours.

Weis described an ongoing cleanup effort, noting that 475 residents had pending chainsaw requests when she arrived at the meeting. She explained a multi-step process in which residents are placed on a list, GIS staff map roughly 10 jobs in the same geographic area, and volunteer chainsaw crews are assigned. The county planned to stop taking new calls Wednesday at noon and shift later requests to local crews working the weekend.

Weis thanked numerous volunteer organizations still working in the county, including Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, Convoy of Hope, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mennonite Disaster Service, Team Blackthorn, Rapid Ministries, Minuteman Disaster Response, Emmanuel Church, Team Rubicon and Eight Days of Hope. She also credited Schwan's for donating two pallets of frozen pizzas, and Eight Days of Hope, the Salvation Army and Hot Meals USA for providing meals. The United Methodist Church and Kansas Wesleyan provided shelter space for citizens and volunteers, with Red Cross coordinating. She noted about 140 linemen came in to help restore power.

Weis said Ellsworth and Thomas counties loaned emergency managers for three days, and the cities of Hutchinson and Andover provided traffic crews to assist Salina with damaged signal lights. She added that two additional rounds of severe weather occurred during the same week. A post-incident analysis is planned roughly two weeks after cleanup operations conclude. The commission approved the resolution unanimously.