Crops, roads taking hit in area
By MIKE CORN
Crop insurance adjusters and FEMA damage assessment teams are a welcome sight in much of northwest Kansas.
But both are in short supply.
Farmers are wanting to know how severely hail has damaged fields of wheat, and cities and counties are wanting to know if they are going to get any help repairing what Mother Nature put asunder.
Local officials, including those in Smith County where at least 43 bridges are washed out, are wondering if any help will be coming their way.
Farmers along a wide and long band of hail that followed Bow Creek, stretching from Graham County into Rooks County, are among those battered by hail storms.
On Wednesday, crop adjustors from Nebraska were teaming up to inspect -- on foot and via all-terrain vehicles -- land farmed by Don McLaughlin.
Although he lives in Stockton, he farms about 900 acres of wheat along Bow Creek, "and every bit has some hail in it. There's hail in every field."
Some fields range from total losses to simply extensive. As a result, McLaughlin said he might harvest 150 to 200 acres of the wheat he originally planted. And he was hoping for yields of at least 30 to 40 bushels per acre.
Hail, he said, has damaged thousands and thousands of acres this year.
In Rooks, Phillips and Smith counties, there are white streaks running through many wheat fields -- wheat that has been killed and bleached out by water standing in the terrace channels.
McLaughlin said he's had anywhere from 10 to 14 inches of rain since the storms started.
"In two weeks time, we've had half a year's worth of rainfall," he said.
Bow Creek was out of its banks at least twice, he said.
"I've seen it higher," he said, adding he's lived and farmed in the area all his life.
That rain has boosted water levels in Kirwin and Webster reservoirs but also has washed out roads, bridges and culverts in Smith County to the east.
There, road crews are hustling to put roads back in operation, knowing the Smith County wheat harvest will be starting soon.
Smith County road and bridge supervisor Darrell Shellito is unsure how much it will cost to repair the county's road system.
Inspectors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency swept through Thursday to make damage assessments.
If minimum thresholds are met, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius can then seek a disaster declaration, which would make federal money available. Rep. Jerry Moran would support that request if the threshold is met, his office said.
Meanwhile, Shellito continues to find damage.
Initially, he said Smith County had at least 37 bridges and culverts that had been washed out.
"I'm finding a lot more," he said Thursday. "I'm working on a tube that got washed out."
Such tubes are basically a steel pipe of varying dimensions that cross under roadways to allow water to escape.
"And it rained again last night," Shellito said.
In the southeast part of the county, near Downs, anywhere from an inch to 1Ôªø1รขÑ2 inches of rain fell during the course of a few minutes Wednesday evening.
As of Thursday, Shellito knew of 43 bridges and culverts that have been rendered unusable because the raging waters washed away roads that lead to them.
And then there's the intersection of two county roads Shellito has dubbed Niagra Falls, primarily because of the sheer size of the washout.
Water rushing through the area washed away all traces of the intersection in a 50-foot-wide chasm that ranges from 15 to 30 feet deep.
"If you crumbled the concrete, it might not fill it," Smith County Commission Chairman Arthur Kuhlman mused, as he stood in the shadow of a concrete grain elevator in Gaylord.
"I don't think I will," Shellito said of filling the washout.
It's just too big, and would require huge amounts of soil to fill.
As it stands now, the roads leading to the washout are blocked by barricades at nearby intersections and cattle panels -- 4-by-15 feet panels of heavy wire -- serve as a final blockade.
Emergency officials, however, have had problems with people moving barricades, raising concerns someone might be injured.
The washouts came about during the course of two nights of heavy rain -- anywhere from 5 to 9 inches May 23 and 24.
Kuhlman had more than 5 inches of rain at his residence northwest of Gaylord.
McLaughlin said he's not alone in terms of farmers who have been hard hit by the hail. He's happy no buildings have been lost, and insurance will pick up some of the slack.
"I'm sure it will help," he said of the money from crop insurance. "We're going to get some money out of them. But every farmer likes to have some wheat to sell."
In Smith County, the answer might rest with FEMA.
Already, local officials there have made a disaster declaration.
"We're trying to get some money from FEMA," Kuhlman said of how the county hopes to cope with the damage from the storms that washed out bridges.
In the meantime, work is ongoing to at least open roads in anticipation of the wheat harvest, which might be two to three weeks away.
"We're trying to repair them and get roads in shape for harvest," Kuhlman said. "And I don't think we can make it."