<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1585760010774.jpeg" alt=" Flooding in Johnson County, Kansas, in July of 2017. Brian Grimmett / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption> Flooding in Johnson County, Kansas, in July of 2017. Brian Grimmett / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRIAN GRIMMETT, Kansas News ServiceWICHITA, Kansas — Floods, tornadoes and other 
natural disasters raked across the plains of Kansas long before this 
latest pandemic swirled invisibly around the globe.And no amount of hunkering down in this <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AloneTogether&amp;src=typeahead_click" target="_blank">#AloneTogether</a> period will ward off storm systems or the chaos they rain down.To deal with that reality in this year of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html" target="_blank">COVID-19</a>, emergency response managers at the federal, <a href="http://www.kansastag.gov/kdem_default.asp" target="_blank">state</a> and <a href="https://www.kema.org/board" target="_blank">county levels </a>are retooling how they’ll act when disaster strikes.Help
 that would have been just a few key phone calls and emails away is busy
 dealing with its own problems in response to a crisis likely to linger 
at least for months.That leaves the people paid to help 
communities brace for a deluge or recover from a twister more isolated. 
Not only do they have to deal with the new coronavirus that’s upended 
the world, but with the periodic disasters they're accustomed to 
preparing for.While responders might be skilled in building a 
barrier out of sandbags or setting up temporary shelters for people with
 no place to go, making sure those shelters aren’t a perfect place for 
the virus to spread is a whole new challenge.“I’m not sure we’ve ever trained for something just like this,” said Josh Murray, regional communications director for the <a href="https://www.redcross.org/local/kansas.html" target="_blank">American Red Cross</a>.
 “Hopefully, we don’t have any storms or major disasters that we have to
 deal with right away. But we know that that’s very possible and we’re 
doing everything we can to be ready.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1585760056246.jpeg" alt=" Damage from the tornado that struck Greensburg, Kansas in May of 2007. Credit Jeff Hutton / National Weather Service" />
 <figcaption> Damage from the tornado that struck Greensburg, Kansas in May of 2007. Credit Jeff Hutton / National Weather Service</figcaption>
 </figure>Virtual PreparednessThe <a href="https://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/" target="_blank">Army Corps of Engineers’ regional offices in Kansas City</a>
 have a ghost town feel these days. Like so many Kansans, the federal 
workers at the massive agency work from home, preparing, as usual, for 
the worst.“The main thing right now is keeping our employees, 
our staff, healthy so if we do get into an event, we’re able to 
respond,” said Mike Dulin, an emergency management specialist with the 
Kansas City District of the Corps.Across the Great Plains, that most likely means rivers busting from their banks and <a href="https://www.weather.gov/ddc/greensburgfiveyear" target="_blank">tornadoes ripping across the landscape</a>.Typical
 training sessions that in prior years would happen in person now take 
place virtually through meetings over the Zoom app and conference phone 
calls.“If we do get into a flood event, I think a lot of folks 
are going to be familiar with that virtual support already because we’re
 doing it as part of our daily routine now,” Dulin said.In the 
event of a disaster, the material goods such as sandbags for flood 
barriers and equipment to clean up after a tornado are already in place.
 The problem is getting those to the impacted areas and protecting the 
responders who have to show up, pandemic or not.“How do I keep 
them healthy, how do I mitigate the risk for them and their family,” 
asked Maj. General Lee Tafanelli, the Kansas director of emergency 
management.One way is through the use of personal protective 
equipment such as face masks and gloves. Yet those supplies are scarce 
enough at hospitals already.Tafanelli said the state is also 
looking at the ways setting up shelters for people who have to evacuate 
or have lost their homes would be different.In Atchison County 
in northeast Kansas, where the Missouri River burst its banks last year,
 emergency management officials said the best-case scenario is not 
needing to open any shelters.“We don’t want to do that, but if 
there’s a necessity to do so then we would have to do it,” said Wes 
Lanter, director of emergency management for Atchison County.But it’s hard to predict where shelters might be needed. In a major disaster, shelters play a key role in helping the displaced.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1585760094092.jpeg" alt=" Flooding in Larned, Kansas in August 2019. Credit Chris Neal / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption> Flooding in Larned, Kansas in August 2019. Credit Chris Neal / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>To prepare for a time when one might be needed, the Red Cross said 
it’s working on modifying how those shelters would operate. People would
 likely be screened before being allowed in and an isolation area would 
be set up for people exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus.There’d be precautions taken inside the shelter, too.“That
 may be spreading the beds farther apart,” said the Red Cross’ Murray. 
“That may be staggering meal times so people aren’t all sitting at a 
table at the same time.”He said it’s likely county officials 
would need to find multiple locations for shelters&nbsp; as separation 
guidelines would mean fewer people could be housed in each one.Finding and training volunteers would also be a challenge.The
 Red Cross often gets supplies and volunteers from outside of the 
disaster area. But right now, the first disaster is coronavirus, and 
that’s impacting people nationwide. People who would normally travel to 
help out after a tornado, flood, or hurricane won’t be available.Murray
 said even though the Red Cross and many of its volunteers are 
experienced at responding to disasters, this is unlike anything he’s 
ever seen.“It would be a new experience,” he said, “and 
something that we’d have to do a lot of training and really go over how 
this is going to work.”Brian Grimmett reports on the 
environment, energy and natural resources for KMUW in Wichita and the 
Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/briangrimmett?lang=en">@briangrimmett</a>&nbsp;or email him at grimmett@kmuw.org.

Hunkered-down Kansans brace for flood, tornado season