Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Saline County adopts disaster declaration after 113 mph windstorm; volunteers drive recovery
Summary
Saline County on June 16 adopted a state of disaster for a June windstorm, citing 113 mph peak winds, more than 45,000 customers without power for over 48 hours and 475 pending chainsaw requests; emergency management outlined volunteer coordination, sheltering, and mutual-aid operations.
Saline County on June 16 formally adopted Resolution 26-2451, declaring a state of disaster after a windstorm that emergency management staff said produced peak winds of 113 mph and left more than 45,000 customers without power for over 48 hours.
Michelle Wise, the county’s emergency management director, told the commission the storm generated more than 3,000 calls for service in the immediate aftermath and that operational efforts over the subsequent 15 operational periods focused on chainsaw operations, mass feeding and sheltering, and mutual-aid coordination. She said the county had 475 chainsaw requests pending in its intake system and described a three-step process to group jobs geographically, assign volunteer chainsaw crews, and complete work.
"We had 113 mph winds move through Saline County. We had over 45,000 citizens with both Evergy and [other utilities] without power for more than 48 hours," Wise said, summarizing crews’ and volunteers’ work.
Wise credited local congregations and national response organizations for immediate relief and logistical support, naming the United Methodist Church and Kansas Wesleyan University for shelter space and Salvation Army, Eight Days of Hope, Hot Meals USA, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, Convoy of Hope, Latter-day Saints volunteers, Mennonite Disaster Service, Team Rubicon and other volunteer groups for chainsaw and feeding assistance. She also noted private donations — Schwan’s provided food pallets — and mutual-aid support from neighboring counties that lent emergency managers and traffic crews.
County officials said shelters and volunteer intake centers helped maintain operations while utility crews restored power. Wise said the county will hold a post-incident analysis once chainsaw operations have concluded; she expects to publish scheduling details about that review once the work slows.
The board moved, seconded, and approved Resolution 26-2451 adopting the disaster declaration.
Next steps described by staff include completing remaining chainsaw assignments, finalizing after-action notes from the recent operational periods, and coordinating a community outreach push about disaster notification and severe-weather preparedness.
