Jan 13, 2025
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) - Parts of Kansas are still recovering from record-breaking snowfall. Now that counties and crews are caught up, they are reviewing what worked and what they need to improve. One of the hardest challenges is the amount of snow and how quickly it came down. Last Sunday alone, Saline County had over 13 inches of snowfall, and Sedgwick County had about nine inches between Sunday and Thursday. Both are on their way to returning to normal while preparing for the rest of the winter. From Sedgwick to Saline County and the roads in between, the snow is melting, and the highways are clear. "Reloading and cleaning up our equipment and getting ready, making sure it's ready for the next storm," said Ashley Perez with the North Central Kansas Department of Transportation. On the other side of the storm, hundreds of hours of overtime and thousands of pounds of salt are now used. "We ended up at the very end on Friday, at two of our yards, we are completely out of our salt, sand mix and have used about half of our brine mixture," said Lynn Packer, the Sedgwick County Public Works director. Storm Track 3 Forecast: Gradually warming before a drastic weekend cooldown Response teams faced issues they had never experienced before. "We got 13 inches of snowfall in a 24-hour period, which is unprecedented for us. I think they said that's the most we've had in 63 years in a 24-hour period," said Melissa McCoy, a Saline County public information officer "Once Thursday hit, Thursday night with the second storm coming in, we had all of our trucks out the next day," said Packer. Obstacles are now being treated as learning opportunities. "We started operations at 9 a.m. on Saturday, this past Saturday … looking back on it, potentially maybe an hour earlier might have been nice," said Packer. "Making sure that we are always ready, pretreating as necessary as we are able to. Making sure we have guys on the ground ready to go as needed," said Perez. "This is Kansas, and we have weather here," said McCoy. Restocking, resting up and getting ready for the next one. This is already the snowiest January since 2007 for Sedgwick County, and Saline County hasn't seen 24-hour snowfall numbers like this in over 60 years. Saline County Emergency Management also said drivers learned from the storm and should plan emergency kits to last for 72 hours.
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