Friday night’s powerful storm demonstrated the valuable service of our city and county employees.
It was all hands on deck by the city’s electric department and other city employees who helped clear roads of debris and repair fallen power lines.
Allen County dispatchers relayed calls for help while the sheriff’s department served as the eyes and ears for the road and bridge crews to ensure all major roads were cleared.
The county landfill also was opened on Sunday to receive an estimated 70 loads of debris.
The storm affected tens of thousands up and down Kansas’ eastern border. Utility giant Evergy said it was the largest it has ever experienced since it’s been a provider, causing the largest number of outages in its history. In Kansas City, almost 200,000 lost power.
The hot temperatures exacerbated conditions.
We’re in the midst of another heat wave, with daytime temperatures exceeding 90 degrees compounded by stifling humidity.
For every 1 degree Celsius that the atmosphere warms, it holds an additional 7 percent water vapor. The planet has already warmed 1.2 degrees above pre-industrial averages, and we’re on track — unless we uniformally decrease greenhouse gases — to add at least 2 more degrees on top of that.
This extra moisture often gets dumped out of the atmosphere in torrential downpours like Friday’s where in less than 30 minutes the city recorded almost 1.5 inches of rain.
The storm also demonstrated our strengths. As we emerged from our homes to assess the damage, neighbors quickly began to help those less fortunate.
The whine of chainsaws pierced the otherwise calm in the storm’s aftermath. A beautiful sunset sent the message that the worst was over.
With no electricity, it was eerily quiet once darkness arrived with only the cicadas excitedly chattering about how they had held on.
Yes, blessings abounded, but also important warnings.
— Susan Lynn
