BEAUTY AMID THE BEAST

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Above-freezing temperatures on Sunday began melting not only the coat of ice that covered most of Marion County from Tuesday through Saturday last week, but also some of the trauma of the worst winter storm to hit the area in years.

Temperatures in the mid-40s on Sunday quickly released trees from their heavy burden of ice that resulted in numerous power outages due to falling branches and limbs.

As of Monday, power was restored in all but a few isolated locations, thanks to the heroic effort not only of city and rural electrical crews, but of crews from across the state and beyond that came to the aid of Marion County and other hard-hit areas of southcentral Kansas.

The impact of the storm was felt the hardest in southern Marion County, where residents of Peabody and Goessel in particular used words like “war zone” and “tornado” to described the devastation of trees in their respective communities.

While Hillsboro was back to full power in less than 12 hours, those two communities did not get back on line until the weekend. Power was restored in Marion about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The biggest problem, for the most part, was not local power grids, but failures along Westar Energy’s primary line.

As the rain turned to ice on Tuesday afternoon, variations of similar themes occurred across the county.

n School closings. Class were suspended at midday on Tuesday. The Hillsboro, Marion-Florence and Centre districts were back in session by Friday, but Peabody-Burns and Goessel did not resume classes until Monday.

Basketball games scheduled for Tuesday were postponed. Centre played its Tuesday game with Elyria Christian already on Thursday, while Hillsboro and Marion teams returned to the court for regularly scheduled Friday games.

A wrestling match scheduled at Hillsboro and involving Marion was canceled, but both teams competed at a tournament in Herington on Saturday.

n Emergency centers established. Backup generators enabled communities across the county to establish emergency shelters that offered warmth and food to people who needed it.

City hall in Hillsboro accommodated about 90 people on Wednesday before power was restored at around 1:10 p.m., according to City Administrator Steve Garrett.

Centers were also established at Hillsboro Community Medical Center and Parkside Homes, but few people beyond the residents of those facilities took advantage of them.

In Marion, shelters were offered at the city office and fire station as well as the county courthouse.

The American Red Cross established shelters in Peabody at a local church, the fire station and American Legion hall. Because a six-block area of downtown had power restored only a few hours after the outage, residents had additional options for food and warmth.

Community centers provided respite for residents in Goessel and Florence beginning on Wednesday.

n Fire calls. Local fire departments responded to calls about sparking power lines. Most of the emergencies were minor, but the rural home of the Charles Ayers family between Goessel and Hillsboro was damaged by a fire caused by severed electrical lines.

n Brisk business for supplies. The storm shut down most businesses, except those that supplied storm-related essentials. Hardware stores in Hillsboro, Marion and Peabody, for instance, reported brisk sales of generators, flashlights, batteries and camping equipment.

Grocery stores and some convenience stores were another focus of activity. Vogt’s HomeTown Market and Dale’s Supermarket, provided food Wednesday morning to the city hall shelter in Hillsboro, then opened to the public once electricity returned early in the afternoon.

Likewise, Peabody Market was part of the small area of downtown the got its power back after only a couple of hours. Workers not only sold food stuffs, but prepared and gave away soup to residents who needed it.

In Marion, Carlsons’ Grocery stayed opened for business when power went off Tuesday afternoon and then opened again Wednesday morning without power. Workers reported brisk sales of essentials.

n Clean-up challenges. Across much of the county, communities and farms are left Monday with the challenge of cleaning up countless branches and limbs.

In Hillsboro and Marion, city offices asked residents to move their branches and limbs to the curbside, where city crews will pick them up and haul them away as time permits. (See sidebar for list of approved burn sites for branches in Marion County.)

Marion County was one of 56 counties in Kansas to be declared a state disaster area last Wednesday by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

That declaration was necessary for the area to declared a national disaster area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If that occurs, cities and counties may be eligible for federal funds to offset response-related expenses.

At press time, FEMA had not announced its decision.

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