By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The passage of a violent storm through an area does not mean others will stay away in any given storm season. Barton County Sheriff's Office deputies are always on the lookout. The storm that passed through Great Bend on July 16 was part of a cell that kicked up a tornado warning in Osborne County earlier in the day. It gained strength again as it passed over Great Bend. Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir calls moments like that "controlled chaos" as dispatchers and first responders begin taking calls.
"We prioritize calls," said Bellendir. "Obviously, if you've got calls where somebody is injured, like that reported rollover, we prioritize that. We respond to those first, take the most serious calls first. The law enforcement and fire radios are just jammed. It's just constant radio traffic on there."
The rollover in question on K-96 Highway proved not to be an accident but some of the worst hail damage Bellendir has ever seen on a vehicle. Beyond vehicles, responders are also taking calls on alarms set off by broken glass, downed limbs and power lines, blocked roads, gas leaks, or any other emergencies that might pop up.
"When you get a major incident like this going on, whatever it might be, the command staff will come out," Bellendir said. "The detectives will usually come out. The sheriff's officers that are normally not working at that time will come out. Whoever is closest, basically, is how we handle that."
The sheriff's office typically sends out spotters in the event of severe weather. Officers will get out in the storm when duty calls, but ideally, the storms can be monitored from afar.
"When you're in town like that and you've got those straight winds and horizontal rain and hail, you really don't have a grasp of what's going on," Bellendir said. "It's hard to figure out where you need to be and what you need to do. We try to stay behind the storms, but this one just kind of popped up out of nowhere."
Several Barton County vehicles were damaged in the storm. Bellendir said the vehicles in use suffered the least damage while ones parked at residences, especially those on the west side of Great Bend, suffered the most. An adjuster was expected to look at the fleet last week.
"It's the sheriff's office, so we'll drive with dents in them if we have to. We put the glass back in and away we go."