North-central Kansas hit hard 

By TIM UNRUH 
The Salina Journal 
 

Drifts blew more than 10 feet high in Mitchell County, ice-draped cattle "rattled" as they walked in a corral not far from Solomon, and motorists sat stranded on Interstate Highway 70 north of Ellsworth.

That was Friday morning as a blizzard rumbled through northwest and north-central Kansas, filling up motels with motorists.

During lunch hour Friday, I-70 was closed from its Interstate Highway 135 interchange west to Hays, and
Kansas Highway 140 was shut down from Salina to Ellsworth. Both roads reopened later Friday afternoon.

Schools, courthouses, banks and post offices were closed in most towns.

In northwest Kansas, Goodland had 6.9 inches of snow, Colby 4, Hill City and Hoxie 7 and Oakley 6.

Densmore in Norton County had 9.1 inches, the most in the northwest area.

The north-central part of the state was hit the hardest. Fifteen inches of snow fell in Republic County, a foot in Washington County and 11 inches in Cloud County.

"Cawker City is closed" or at least slowed to a crawl, said Nathalie Wessling, dispatcher at the Mitchell County Sheriff's Office. Law officers were called to shuttle hospital and nursing home workers to their jobs in Beloit.

"This is not a happy camper after 12 hours," said Linda Kyler of the Ellsworth County Sheriff's Office as she tried to reach the National Guard in Salina for help in reaching stuck truckers and travelers on I-70.

"I've got a ton of them stranded. People are driving like banshees, and the wrecker services can't get people off the the median."

Ellsworth County officers had worked two injury accidents Thursday night through Friday morning. 

Kyler said county roads were impassable. Vehicles were making their way through Ellsworth city streets by midmorning.

Visibility was about 10 feet Friday morning in Marion County, said Kelly Wonser, a sheriff's dispatcher. 

All roads were slick and snow-packed.

There were 8 to 10 inches of snow reported in the Salina area, but it was not as deep farther west. The Logan County sheriff's office guessed the blanket was 5 inches deep, with 2- to 3-foot drifts.

The wind had calmed by noon, and I-70 was described by a dispatcher as "not that bad.

Today is expected to be clear but cold, with the high only in the mid-20s and with a south wind of 10 to 20 mph. Sunday and Monday should be warmer, with the high Monday in the mid-40s.

Closed roads, booming motels

All 45 rooms at the Super 8 Motel in Russell were spoken for by about 10 p.m. Thursday, said Randy
Robertson, manager, and people were asking for rooms well past midnight. The same was true early Friday afternoon.

"Lord have mercy, we're full," Robertson said.

The blizzard helped a typically slow February at the West Lake Inn in Downs, said manager Carolyn Miller .

"It was better than it has been," she said. Most of the seven people who registered there Thursday night were from out of state.

One California family who stayed there said it took 51/2 hours to drive from Wichita to Downs, located about 80 miles northwest of Salina in Osborne County. Under normal conditions, Miller said, that's a 3-hour drive.

Not all motels cashed in. The Hoxie Motel, had only Old Man Winter to keep owner Ronda Bacon company.

A lack of visibility

There was some local traffic reported on I-70 in the Russell area, and tow trucks were on the highway en route to stuck vehicles and jackknifed trucks.

"There's always people who can get around and get back on it (the highway), if they work hard enough at it," said Wes Moore, assistant engineer in the District Three office of the Kansas Department of Transportation, Norton. "Don't expect that there will be no traffic."

Visibility was the big reason for the road closings, said David Greiser, the transportation department's public involvement liaison for District Two, Salina.

"It just makes it dangerous for anyone to be out there," he said, because high winds caused blowing and drifting snow. The gusts were beginning to subside about 3 p.m..

The National Guard gets involved if requested by a local emergency management director. But road crews and law enforcement agencies were handling the problems resulting from the blizzard, said Brian Armstrong, the assistant director in Saline County.

"Nothing has elevated to our level yet," he said Friday morning.

National Guard assistance was considered, Greiser said, but transportation department workers and sheriff's deputies were able to transport stranded motorists into their respective towns.

Bovine rattlers

The key for cattle in extreme cold is to keep them well fed and dry, said Ray Kohman, Solomon-area farmer and cattleman.

"It's pretty nasty," Kohman said of the weather after he fed 750 critters Friday morning.

The storm first drenched the animals with rain, then it turned to ice and snow that draped their hides with 6- to 8-inch icicles.

"It was kind of funny," Kohman said. "When they walk, they kind of make a rattling sound."

Finding solid ground was a challenge, he said, and so was keeping the falling and blowing snow out of the feed bunks.

But skies began to clear before lunch Friday, raising Kohman's hopes that his cattle's backs would dry for extreme cold expected to settle in at nightfall. He planned to be scooping bunks again before dinner.

"If they could dry off before it gets cold tonight," he said, "they'll feel a lot better."
 
 

*  Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 823-6464, Ext. 137, or by e-mail at sjtunruh@saljournal.com.
*  Reporter Nate Jenkins contributed to this story.