Community comes together in cleanup

Story and photos by
STACY RICE
The sounds of chain saws filled the summer air as residents in Drexel began the clean up early Tuesday morning of downed tree limbs and debris following the devastating storms that moved through the area late Monday night.
The destructive storm brought straight line winds, heavy rain and hail, resulting in a trail of downed power lines, uprooted trees, crumpled vehicles, and heavy damage to many homes and businesses.
The storm hit about 10:30 p.m. Monday night, tearing the roof off the local VFW post and two storage rental businesses in town. Large sections of the VFW roof, made up of aluminum sheeting, have been located six blocks away. The VFW and Otto Storage has been determined as destroyed. Damage has been reported to the Drexel Swimming Pool as well but there has not been any indication that it will effect the rest of the summer season. According to Jon Carpenter, Chief of Police for Drexel, $264,500 in business damage and $433,000 in city-owned property damage is being turned into the State of Emergency Management Assistance (SEMA) program for review. The damage to residential properties is still being calculated.
The damage from the overnight storms extended from Osawatomie, KS, eastward to Fontana, KS, and into Drexel and Adrian.
The streets, where children rode their bikes just hours before, were now littered with limbs, trees and power lines.
Outside of town a few mobile homes were blown off their foundations. One Drexel resident road out the storm in her trailer home as it rolled off its foundation causing total destruction.
Amazingly, no injuries have been reported.
As of early Wednesday morning, about 95% of citizens had their electricity restored. About 14,350 KCP&L customers were out of power as result of Mother Nature’s fury. Most of the outages were reported in Drexel, however other communities south of the Kansas City area were affected. Crews, who began working about 3 a.m. Tuesday, had already restored power to another 27,000 customers who lost power in the storms. Drexel was also without water until about 3:00 p.m. Tuesday. KCP&L worked with the American Royal Water Association to get the city’s water pumping station running on generator power. KCP&L reported have replaced 44 poles and 1,500 meters were out of service.
A National Weather Service storm damage survey team determined straight line winds between 90 and 120 m.p.h. caused the damage in Drexel. They found no evidence of a tornado.
Heavy rains pelleted the area ending with nearly 5 inches of rain which lasted into the early morning hours on Tuesday.
The American Red Cross of Greater Kansas City opened a shelter in the Drexel Community Center first thing Tuesday morning, and volunteers stocked an emergency response vehicle with breakfast items and a mobile emergency aid station, which was stocked with food and water. The Salvation Army also assisted in providing meals to those in need. They reportedly served 140 lunches on Tuesday and were in the area assisting until the 4 o’clock hour on Wednesday. The American Red Cross served 175 lunches and 350 dinners on Tuesday and housed 5 people overnight. They reportedly handed out nearly 1,900 bottles of water. They were expected to leave the area after lunches served on Wednesday.
Read the complete story in the June 18th edition.