TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The state’s emergency management director says the Kansas National Guard has three teams patrolling two state highways in Humvees to rescue motorists stranded by a massive winter storm.
Kansas Adjutant and Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli told reporters Thursday the guard can mobilize other crews if necessary from its armories. Each team has two guard members.
Two of the teams are working on Interstate 70. It was closed Thursday from Salina to Colby, a stretch of nearly 200 miles.
Tafanelli says another team was working on U.S. 54 in southwest Kansas, which was closed temporarily from the Pratt-Kiowa county line to Minneola in Clark County.
He also says about 30 people took shelter at Kiowa County Memorial Hospital in Greensburg, and several other communities also had shelters available.