TOPEKA — A team of Kansas emergency officials including Franklin County Emergency Management director Alan Radcliffe, who led the team, have returned six days early from Maryland, where they were helping that state deal with Hurricane Sandy. The state Incident Management Team flew from Kansas Oct. 28 to Reisterstown, Md., near Baltimore. The team helped Maryland officials deal with the flooding, high winds and heavy rains from Sandy, Radcliffe said. But the team saw an entirely different side of Sandy, when they were sent to Oakland in Garrett County in extreme northwestern Maryland Oct. 31. That county got two feet of snow from the storm, and all but a couple of major roads were closed because of downed trees and limbs, and about 90 percent of the county was without electric power, he said. The team helped the county coordinate road clearing and electrical line replacement, and called on a special Maryland emergency task force team that checked every home in the county to check on the safety of residents, he said. The team also helped coordinate resources so electric power was available for polling stations on Election Day, he said.
Monday, Nov. 12, 1 p.m.
