Cleanup work continues in Iola from the extensive storm damage from the morning of May 3.
In a brief summation to City Council members Monday, Interim Iola City Administrator Corey Schinstock said limb pickup may extend to Memorial Day, while electric crews continue to do long-term repairs to the line of utility poles toppled in the storm.
As of Monday, crews have hauled 85 loads of limbs and brush to the Allen County Landfill, Schinstock said.
Calls for rainy weather over the next several days could slow that effort, he acknowledged.
Meanwhile, broken poles are being replaced, primarily along Patterson Avenue.
Schinstock said the city is looking at other measures to strengthen the electric infrastructure in the area, such as steel poles or adding wind anchors “to combat that wind.”
Council members and Mayor Jon Wells heaped praise on the city crews in the aftermath of the storm, noting electric line workers were on duty as soon as the storm subsided, and didn’t clock back out for 30 hours.
Councilman Steve French noted Iolans who haven’t been out and about likely didn’t realize the extent of the damage.
“Mega-kudos” was warranted for all involved, French said, including to residents who went out en masse with chainsaws, rakes and other tools to help neighbors and friends with cleanup. “People really pulled together and cleaned up this community. The community as a whole should really be giving themselves a pat on the back, getting put back together.”
Wells agreed, calling the effort “something you find in small communities. You don’t find that in large communities.”
Iola’s ability to restore service as quickly as it did, with no outside assistance, is unparalleled to many communities, Wells added.
THE CITY has set a tentative opening date for the Iola Municipal Pool for June 15, provided Gov. Laura Kelly continues relaxing restrictions regarding crowd sizes at public venues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Right now, we are planning to open the pool,” Schinstock said. “We have no intentions not to.”
Meanwhile, neighboring communities have reached out to iola, Schinstock said, about the city’s summer recreation baseball and softball leagues, and whether children from those communities can participate.
As a result, sign-up has been extended a week, Schinstock said.
Like the pool, the city’s aim is for rec league operations to begin in mid-June.
