Lyon County Commissioners hear blizzard response update; praise county employees, city of Emporia and Melvern FD

Sheriff Jeff Cope and Emergency Manager Jarrod Fell praised the work of local first responders in the midst of Sunday’s blizzard — which resulted in a complete shutdown of a portion of Interstate 35 — during a meeting of the Lyon County Commission Thursday morning at the courthouse.

More than 50 wrecks were reported by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office between 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sunday, with calls coming in one after the other for the duration of that time. Only four injury events were reported.

Emporia Police Adminstrative Sergeant Lisa Sage told The Emporia Gazette in an email that 21 non-injury accidents and one injury call were reported within city limits on Sunday. Cope said he made the call to shut down the highway at the BETO Junction exit, about 25 miles east of Emporia, at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

“We started calling the State [Emergency Operations Center] and it was, ‘We’ll have to check on that and get back with you,’” Cope said. “[A little before 1:30 p.m.] they called and said, ‘Yeah, but if you need to shut it down, you need to do it locally because we don’t have any resources.’”

Cope said City of Emporia Public Works crews responded quickly to set up barricades at exits and divert traffic, though it was a struggle to get assistance from crews in Coffey County.

“We shut down the northbound turnpike gate and then it was a struggle getting Coffey County to participate,” he said. “Jarrod was talking to his counterpart and I wasn’t overly excited about the response we got there, so I called the sheriff. He said he was trying to get there … but he goes, ‘It’s not that bad in Coffey County.’”

Cope said Lyon County responders were putting their lives on the line dealing with travelers who should have stayed home. Eventually, volunteers from the Melvern Fire Department were dispatched to assist.