Power outages across 44 counties in western Kansas have stretched the resources of the Kansas National Guard, a spokeswoman said.

While the Army and Air Guard has more than 7,000 of its 8,000 members in-state, a large portion of its equipment – Black Hawk helicopters and heavy trucks – is committed to American operations overseas.

“We have enough equipment to manage the current disaster, but if another hits we would have a problem,” said Sharon Watson, Kansas National Guard public affairs director. Currently, about 135 members of the guard are mobilized across the snowbound area to help rescue residents, operate generators and feed stranded animals.

Because of the limited resources of the guard, Watson said it’s crucial that Kansans are prepared if a major storm seems imminent. Watson suggested that households have enough bottled water, packaged food and nonperishable items to last several days. Weekend forecasts indicate good weather, but long-range projections suggest Friday may bring a snowstorm with another 1-3 inches of snow across Kansas, including Lawrence.

A bale of hay is lowered to the ground for feeding cattle while members of the Kansas National Guard use a Black Hawk helicopter to drop hay in for cattle south of Goodland, Kan., on Thursday after a major snowstorm hit the state six days earlier, leaving many residents without power and unable to get to remote areas to feed their cattle for six days.

If that storm hits, it could lay waste to some of the work National Guardsmen and utility crews have done to restore power across Kansas. At the height of the storm, some 60,000 people were without power. That number has been reduced to about 11,000.

Aquila spokesman Curt Floerchinger said crews from Lawrence have been helping restore power in western Kansas. Crews went door to door in Satanta relighting pilot lights that were out because the natural gas distribution had to be turned off.

Floerchinger said his utility, which provides electricity across part of western Kansas, would have all power back on by the end of the weekend. Aquila also provides natural gas to 106,000 customers in Kansas, including 33,000 in Lawrence. Its gas operations are based in Lawrence at 110 E. Ninth St.

Other utilities could take somewhat longer, Watson said. The question will be whether utilities can make their temporary repairs permanent in time for the potential storm next week and through the rest of the winter.