The Finney County Commission approved a severe winter weather emergency declaration for the Jan. 8-9 blizzard at its regular meeting on Tuesday. During the week of the storm, Commission chairman Gerry Schultz declared the emergency, but it needed to be confirmed by the Commission Tuesday’s meeting. Paul Resley, Finney County Emergency Management Director, said the emergency declaration was needed because they got inundated with the snow and wind from the storm. “We had so many people stranded that we were losing resources faster than we could find them,” he said. “So, we were reaching out for some help. The governor eventually did declare an emergency as well, that helped a bunch.” Resley complimented the county residents, that they stepped up to help people, especially people they couldn’t get to. “We had no injuries or deaths throughout all this, so, we were very, very fortunate there,” he said. Over 60 people that were stranded were picked up during the storm, Resley said. The furthest they went to help pick up somebody was 27 miles east of Garden City. It was a bit difficult to get to that person due to the vehicles already blocking the road, Resley said. Thankfully, a farmer helped them out and took them to where they get out a brush truck and bear cat out to rescue them. During the rescue, they checked in with the person every half an hour, seeing how they were doing and how much gas they had. A lot of phone calls were made that day trying to find resources, Resley said. County road employees were a bunch of help, especially when they had to dig through snow drifts to get people out from vehicles. “All-in-all, I can’t say enough about everybody that worked through all this with us,” he said.
Source: Garden City Telegram
