By AJ Dome, The Mercury
Officials with Riley County Emergency Management and the National Weather Service found signs of tornado damage after severe weather blitzed the Manhattan area in early May.
Emergency Management Director Russell Stukey told county commissioners Monday that he activated the outdoor warning sirens in several locations across the county for severe thunderstorms on May 6. Sirens blared shortly after 7:30 p.m. May 6. Tornado warnings were also issued for parts of Clay and Pottawatomie counties on May 6. Initial reports indicated there was no tornado associated with the storms, only radar-indicated rotation within the thunderstorm.
Stukey said he met with meteorologists from the National Weather Service Topeka office on May 7 and they drove to the Hunter’s Island area near Manhattan and found possible tornado damage just east of the Riley County Transfer Station.
NWS Topeka meteorologists said a wind gust of 70 miles per hour was measured in Junction City on May 6. Hailstones up to four inches in diameter, or about the size of a softball, fell in Dickinson County as well.
Riley County Commissioners also heard from Riley County Health Department Director Julie Gibbs regarding a county position that’s funded with county opioid monies.
Gibbs asked commissioners if they were interested in funding half of the position of community health educator, with the intent of asking City of Manhattan officials to fund the other half. Gibbs estimated that the county’s contribution would be about $24,500. If the county wanted to fund the position totally, the amount would jump to over $49,000.
Both Commissioners Greg McKinley and John Ford asked Gibbs to secure the City of Manhattan’s portion of the funding request, or to at least ask them if they approve of the idea, before returning to county commission. Kathryn Focke was absent from Monday’s meeting.
Ford said he’d like to discuss making the community health educator position a full-time job, instead of the current part-time setup.
Gibbs told Ford and McKinley that she would speak with city officials about their portion of the funding request in the coming weeks.
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