Emergency Management Reports Progress on Storm Recovery, SBA Assistance Available
Saline County Emergency Management Director Michelle Weis provided a quarterly update covering July through September, highlighting continued recovery from two presidential disaster declarations following an April hailstorm and a June windstorm.
Weis said applicant briefings had been conducted for both disasters, with five applicants for the hailstorm and nine for the windstorm, a number she said was still growing. She said staff were advocating to add applicants for small projects, defined as damage sustained up to $3,200, and that damage assessments were being verified a third time before repair work proceeds. Among the damaged facilities, she said the fire station for District 3 was destroyed and that crews were working to find materials to rebuild it, noting some original materials are no longer manufactured.
Weis announced that the Small Business Administration had set up in town to help with applications for both storms. She said SBA representatives would be available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through approximately October 15 to answer questions, including from applicants who were initially denied.
She also reported on numerous trainings and exercises, including a full-scale airport exercise with 111 participants, and encouraged residents to sign up for the county's Regroup mass notification system, which replaced the previous Code Red system. Weis added that Fire District 1 obtained a fire engine through the Kansas Forest Service in anticipation of covering fire response for the city of Gypsum, and that rural fire received a grant for rural hazmat training expected in spring 2027.
