Pottawatomie County no longer in need of volunteers as cleanup effort enters next phase

Pottawatomie County officials say significant progress has been made on the cleanup effort in Westmoreland following Tuesday’s devastating tornado.

“There’s still a lot to do but we kind of considered we’ve made it to the next phase of operations. We were able to send volunteers home this (Thursday) afternoon and we will not need volunteers tomorrow (Friday),” said Riley County Public Information Officer Vivienne Leyva, speaking on behalf of Pottawatomie County Thursday.

Because heavy equipment will be hauling debris away, she says it’s not safe for volunteers to be out and about. The county plans to put out a notice when volunteers may be needed again through its newly established web page: pottcounty.org/tornado.

Additionally, Leyva says the American Red Cross has established a Multi-Agency Resource Center (or MARC), which will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Westmoreland Methodist Church.

“That’s a spot for people who’ve been impacted by storms to come and get connected to resources and services available, from utility companies, state agencies and vital statistics if they’ve lost important documents, like their marriage certificate or their birth certificate and need help getting those things replaced,”  she said.

Sen. Roger Marshall and Sen. Jerry Moran both plan to tour Westmoreland Friday afternoon.

Monday’s Pottawatomie County Commission meeting will take place in Wamego, at the Emergency Operations Center, located at 406 Miller Drive.

Monetary donations continue to be accepted through funds established by the Caring Community Foundation, Konza United Way and the Wamego Community Foundation. More information on that can be found here.