Emergency Management urges winter-weather safety after recent storm

Sedgwick County Emergency Management briefed the commission Wednesday on winter-weather impacts from a recent storm and urged residents to prepare and check on vulnerable neighbors.

Julie Simpson of Sedgwick County Emergency Management described the forecast challenges that contributed to mixed precipitation across the region and praised forecasters for accurate warnings. Simpson listed health and safety risks from extreme cold — hypothermia, frostbite, carbon-monoxide poisoning, increased cardiovascular incidents from overexertion while shoveling, and travel hazards including stranded motorists — and urged residents to check on newborns, the elderly, people with chronic illness, outdoor workers and people experiencing homelessness.

Simpson offered practical precautions: dress in loose layers, limit outdoor exposure, keep generators at least 20 feet from doors and windows to avoid carbon monoxide hazards, maintain carbon‑monoxide detectors, avoid warming frostbite with hot water or by rubbing the affected area, and prepare an emergency kit for vehicles (phone charger, flashlight, blankets, jumper cables, kitty litter or sand for traction and a full tank of gas). She noted short-lived outages during the recent storm and thanked utility crews and first responders for their response.

Simpson also directed residents to sedgwickcounty.org for county resources, the ICT office of the National Weather Service at weather.gov/ict, and the county’s CivicReady mass‑notification system. Commissioners thanked Emergency Management for the briefing; no action was required.