Prairie Creek Elementary School students, staff recall tornado as school is being rebuilt
28 April 2023
EL DORADO, Kan. (KSNW) — Saturday marks the first anniversary of the Andover tornado that destroyed homes and buildings. Behind that day’s response, dispatchers in Andover, Butler County and Sedgwick County.
Many say it was unlike anything they had experienced before. The phones were ringing nonstop from about 8 p.m. to midnight.
“You just keep doing one thing and go on to the next, and then, it just kept going,” Butler County Dispatch supervisor Marissa Sparks said.
On top of the calls of the tornado, they were trying to deal with the typical emergencies in Butler County.
“You have people stuck in their homes calling 911,” Sparks said. “Nursing homes needed patients transported out because of the lack of electricity for those on oxygen.”
They were kept in the dark the entire time, unaware of what to expect outside.
“All you have during that time, there’s just kind of your thoughts as to how bad it really is, and then you see it, and then, it’s not as bad or way worse than you had pictured,” Sparks said.
They knew the chances of severe weather were high, so 911 director Jeremy Seglem brought in extra staff.
“Especially with how fast that tornado dropped. It all seemed very unexpected, even with the high potential for a tornado that day,” Sparks said.
The radios reached their limit.
“That’s a very unique situation,” Seglem said. “We deal with things every day. But when it takes two dispatch centers, and we have problems with radio channels and communicating, those are very unique, and things that we have to work through and have to do it on the spot.”
Sparks says that being the first point of contact in someone’s worst moments is full of learning and humility.
Butler County 911 says, for the most part, everything went smoothly on their end that day, but they still learned lessons on how to work better next time.