State may be unprepared if another disaster strikes

Iraq, Afghanistan deployments put strain on Guard's equipment

For all the broken trees, shattered windows, fallen barns and days of cleanup generated by last week’s microburst in Lawrence, experts say the incident doesn’t rise all that high in the annals of natural disasters to afflict the city.

The ice storm of 2005 did more widespread damage to trees and roofs. The tornado of 2003 gutted whole buildings. The floods of 1993 and 1951 sparked years of rebuilding and huge, expensive projects to alleviate the effects of hard rains. The tornado of 1911 killed two people on its path through Old West Lawrence.

Sunday’s microburst “was definitely significant,” said Paula Phillips, director of Douglas County Emergency Management.

But injuries were minor, and destruction – while widespread – was mostly limited in intensity.

“It didn’t do as much damage as most tornadoes do,” said Joy Moser, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management.

And for Lawrence’s sake, that’s probably just as well. Had the storm turned into a full-fledged disaster, the state of Kansas would have been hard-pressed to respond.

Years of overseas deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq have left the Kansas National Guard depleted of equipment – some now used in Kansas is borrowed from Nebraska – straining its ability to respond to disasters at home.

“We could do it, but we’re at the top of the bottom,” said Moser, who is also a Guard spokeswoman. “We couldn’t go much lower with the amount of equipment we have and still do it.”

‘Diminished readiness’

A spokeswoman for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was more evasive on the topic of whether the National Guard is ready to handle a disaster more severe than the storm that hit Lawrence.

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“It’s really hard for the governor to answer hypotheticals,” said Nicole Corcoran. “It would depend on what we’re dealing with to know what we need. Right now we’re confident we could deal with it, but it would depend on what Mother Nature gave us to know what we really need.”

But the Sebelius administration is clearly concerned. The governor wrote to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in December, complaining that the 891st Engineering Battalion – based in southeast Kansas, commanded by Ozawkie state Rep. Lee Tafanelli – had returned from its year in Iraq without a host of heavy equipment, including bucket loaders, road graders, dump trucks, bulldozers and tractor-trailers.

“The Guard was critical to responding to recent blizzards and floods in Kansas, yet its ability to respond to similar situations is being diminished by a lack of equipment,” Sebelius wrote. “We must be able to maintain a high level of readiness, because no one can know when disaster will strike.”

The commanders of National Guard units across the nation estimate they have left $35 billion worth of equipment in Iraq. The federal budget commits just $20 billion over the next six years for replacement.

And that, Moser said, will put a strain on home troops the next time they respond to a Kansas disaster.

“We just don’t have the equipment we had,” she said. “We’re not to the point where we can’t perform the mission – I don’t want for one minute for people to think that. But we’d have to be creative.”

Notable natural disasters in Lawrence

Here are some other significant natural disasters to afflict Lawrence over the years:
¢ January 2005: Ice storm covers 32 Kansas counties, including Douglas, knocking down tree branches and knocking out power to thousands of customers across the state, inflicting more than $39 million in damage.
¢ May 2003: Tornado strikes southwest Lawrence, gutting an apartment building and causing more than $5 million in damage – part of $215 million in storm-related damage reported across the state that spring.
¢ July 1993: Flooding once again leaves much of North Lawrence under water. To prevent a repeat, Lawrence has spent more than $7.2 million on stormwater improvements and another $7.1 million for nonbonded expenses such as stormwater staff salaries, maintenance and related expenses.
¢ June 1981: Tornado skips along a two-mile path between 27th and 31st streets in southwest Lawrence, demolishing the south end of the Kmart store, 3106 Iowa, and overturning mobile homes at Gaslight Village mobile home park, 1900 W. 31st. One man died, and 33 people were injured. Damage was estimated at about $18 million.
¢ June-July 1951: The Great Flood. A month of rain causes the Kansas River to crest at 25.6 feet. No deaths, but loss estimates ranged from $4 million to $6 million.
¢ April 1911: Tornado tears a path of destruction in Old West Lawrence, downtown and North Lawrence, killing two people and causing an estimated $200,000 in damage.
¢ May 1903: After nearly a month of continuous rain, the Kansas River overflows its banks on May 26, and the flood waters reach their peak on Black Sunday May 31, 1903. The crest was officially listed at 27 feet. The sheriff claimed he saw three men and two children thrown from a house that was smashed to bits in the turbulent waters, but those deaths were never confirmed. Loss of property, stock and crops in the flood was estimated at $4 million.

Source: Lawrence Journal-World archives