Cleanup continues following a couple of storms which caused considerable damage in parts of Salina.

Saline County Emergency Management asks for patience from property owners who are still waiting for help in tree and branch removal. The Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists Disaster Relief and Team Rubicon have mobilized chainsaw teams to assist with limb and debris cleanup. Some teams have arrived, more are coming, and are working their way through a list of homes that need help. As of late Friday there were 125 homes on the list for this service, and due to limited resources no additional homes can be added at this time.

While the teams will not haul away debris, they will move it to the curbside for city pickup.

The City of Salina is conducting a special limb pickup effort, which is expected to take several weeks. Saline County has donated the use of a a dump truck and tractor to help in the effort. The City has also  rented additional equipment to handle this debris pick-up and to make ample room within the limb area of the landfill. Residents are asked to neatly stack tree limbs at the curb on their property with a maximum length limit of 10 feet. With the exception of private streets, the City will be divided into six zones to efficiently address storm debris with crews working in each zone.  The City will not collect on private properties or private streets.  All tree limbs and vegetation debris needs to be placed at the curb if it is intended for free City curbside pickup.

Saline County Management Director Michelle Weis tells KSAL News after consulting with the National Weather Service its been determined that a microburst was responsible for the 95 MPH wind which caused all of this.

According to the National Weather Service a microburst is a downdraft, or sinking air, in a thunderstorm that is less than 2.5 miles in scale.  Some microbursts can pose a threat to life and property, but all microbursts pose a significant threat to aviation.  Although microbursts are not as widely recognized as tornadoes, they can cause comparable, and in some cases, worse damage than some tornadoes produce.  In fact, wind speeds as high as 150 mph are possible in extreme microburst cases.

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Photo via Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptist Disaster Relief