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Raymore officials report winter-storm response after historic ice and snow
Summary
City staff told the Raymore City Council on Jan. 13 that crews kept main routes open during a multi-day ice-and-snow event that produced about 11.5 inches of snow total; public works described hours, materials and miles driven and police reported limited storm-related calls.
Raymore City staff reported to the City Council on Jan. 13 that the city’s emergency management, public works and police departments coordinated a multi-day response to an ice and snow event that began Dec. 4–6 and included additional snow on Jan. 9–10.
Emergency Management Director Mark Baldwin told council members the event produced roughly four‑tenths of an inch of ice on Dec. 4, followed by about nine inches of snow on Dec. 5–6 and an additional 2.5 inches on Jan. 9–10. "Altogether for the week, we got about 11 and a half inches of snow," Baldwin said, and added that wind gusts topped 30 miles per hour and overnight lows reached the low single digits.
Baldwin said the city monitored Evergy outage maps, saw a short outage affecting about 200 residents that resolved within roughly 30 minutes, and prepared two warming centers that were not needed. "We had a couple of warming centers as well lined up in the event that we had any requests to open. We did not have any requests open," he said.
Assistant Director of Public Works Justin Pate described the operational response: crews applied 8,900 gallons of salt brine ahead of the freezing rain, stayed on priority 1 and 2 routes during the storm, then completed curb‑to‑curb work on priority ones within five hours after the snow stopped. Pate said crews used roughly 600 tons of salt, logged 7,079 miles of plow driving and recorded about 945 hours of drive time and 1,209 total crew hours over the operation. "We hit every road in 36 hours," he said, describing follow‑up work to chip ice in cold temperatures and to clear residential streets.
Raymore Police Chief Wilson reported the department handled 40 calls for service during the event, nine of which were weather related; shifts and dispatch were supported with food and with one officer using a cot provided by emergency management. "Even though we only had 40 calls for service at Raymore PD, dispatch continued service for South Metro with 28 events, 5 weather related events," the chief said.
Council members and residents praised staff communications and field operations throughout the meeting. Councilmember Baker said social media and local media coverage helped residents understand priorities and thanked crews for the quick clearing of main roads and the message that cul‑de‑sacs would be handled later. Councilmember Mills and others noted the city’s planning and interdepartmental coordination; Councilmember Serco and others thanked staff and urged public appreciation for the crews who worked through the event.
The council heard the storm reports during staff reports and used them to highlight a recent internal promotion: Pate was promoted to assistant director of public works for operations during this meeting, with the council noting he worked on plow operations during the storm.
No formal council action was required or taken on the storm response during the meeting. Staff said the next scheduled outdoor siren test will be Feb. 5 after jurisdictions opted not to test in January because of weather conditions.
