Road crews across Lyon and surrounding counties spent hours Wednesday night and Thursday morning battling a wintry mix of precipitation. The wintry mix has ended and driving conditions have improved to a large degree, but travel is still icy for much of the KVOE listening area.
Emporia remains in Phase III accident reporting after spending most of Wednesday and Thursday morning in the special crash reporting procedures. Police Lt. Kevin Risley explains:
A decision on whether to extend this window will be made by 2 pm.
City, county and KDOT crews were out from around 10:30 pm Wednesday to the early hours of Thursday. Assistant County Engineer Jim Brull:
City Street Supervisor Mike Dvorak says city crews were also out most of the evening into this morning. Currently they are backtracking slick spots and says with the added sunshine the roadways are looking “pretty good.”
Numerous schedule adjustments remain in effect:
School Activities
*Emporia High Mini-Dance Clinic practice canceled Thursday; Monday’s practice to be extended from 6-8 pm
Community
*Abundant Harvest not having its evening meal Thursday
*American Legion Post No. 5 closed Thursday. Activities canceled
*American Red Cross-Emporia State University blood drive moved to the Flinthills Mall former KansasWorks office space. Event runs from 11 am-5 pm
*Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce Valuation Committee meeting postponed to Feb. 14
*Emporia Senior Center closed Thursday
*Emporia Sertoma Club meeting at Pizza Ranch canceled Thursday
*Emporia Friendship Center – Meals on Wheels closed Thursday
*Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland’s Amend Girl Scout office closed Thursday
*Hetlinger Developmental Services will be open but there will be no bus service Thursday
*L-CAT closed Thursday
*Lyon County History Center closed Thursday. Emporia Pop-Up Museum at Village Elementary postponed Thursday until further notice
*Salvation Army office and thrift store closed Thursday
*Shiloh Pregnancy Center closed Thursday
*Sunshine Sisters no class Thursday
*Americus Township Library closed Thursday
*Coffey County Lake closed Thursday
*Council Grove Public Library closed Thursday
Churches
*Harveyville United Methodist Church food pantry to open Friday
*Lebo Baptist Church Bible study canceled Thursday
*Lyndon United Methodist Church offices and preschool closed Thursday
Government
*Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs mobile visit in Council Grove canceled Thursday
Medical
*Newman Regional Health Auxiliary volunteers do not need to report through Friday if it is too cold or unsafe to travel.
Business
*Cradle to Career Literacy Center closed Thursday
*Kari’s Diamonds and Bridal closed Thursday
*Steve’s Trash Service will run Thursday’s routes in Lebo and Olpe on Friday
Wind chills have stayed below zero all day with a combination of air temperatures ranging from 10-15 above zero and northerly winds as high as 35 mph.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for weather and travel updates — and make sure to connect to KVOE on Twitter@kvoeam1400 or Facebook@kvoenews for instant alerts if you haven’t already done so. If you have schedule adjustments to report, whether they are closings, cancellations, postponements or delays, call KVOE at 620-342-1400 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
11 am Thursday: Special crash reporting procedures back in effect in Emporia; road conditions to be slick for much of Thursday
Road crews have been out for hours battling a wintry mix of precipitation, but road conditions are still icy and will likely remain so areawide for much of the day.
Lyon County Deputy Jeff Rodriguez is cautioning residents to stay home if at all possible and to take extra care if they have to travel.
Emporia is back in Phase III accident reporting after spending most of yesterday in the special crash reporting procedures. Police Lt. Kevin Risley explains:
City, county and KDOT crews are still out Thursday morning. KDOT spokesperson Laura Arellano says it could be noon at the earliest before highways are decent enough for travel to pick up.
Weather alerts, including an ice storm warning for Coffey, Greenwood and Osage counties and a winter weather advisory for Lyon, Chase, Morris and Wabaunsee counties, have been canceled.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for updates. Get instant news, weather, travel and schedule adjustment alerts by connecting to Twitter@kvoeam1400 or Facebook@kvoenews. Track statewide driving conditions online at www.kandrive.org.
5:45 am Thursday: Travel not recommended after wintry mix coats roads, jumbles schedules
Our wintry mix of precipitation is coming to an end Thursday morning. That’s good news, because it has already had a major impact on travel and schedules.
Numerous schedule adjustments were reported for Wednesday, and the list may be just as long for Thursday:
Road crews have been out for several hours, but streets in Emporia and roads across the area are still icy. KDOT spokesperson Laura Arellano says state crews made headway Wednesday after light icing. After the overnight sleet, they are starting from scratch again despite pretreating area highways.
Lyon County Deputy Jeff Rodriguez says people need to make adjustments for the driving conditions.
Special crash reporting procedures for non-injury crashes ended at midnight in Emporia.
At least one weather-related injury crash has already been reported in the area Thursday morning. Tyler Godwin, age 20 of Haysville, was hurt after his car hit an icy patch on the Kansas Turnpike at mile marker 106, about 21 miles southwest of Emporia, shortly after 1 am. His car went off the highway and rolled. Godwin was taken to Newman Regional Health afterward with suspected minor injuries.
On Wednesday, a rural Emporia teenager was taken to Newman Regional Health after a crash west of town. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office says 16-year-old Aubria Kair was westbound on US Highway 50 and lost control of her pickup around 7:45 am, leaving the highway and rolling several times. Kair was not wearing her seatbelt and was ejected, but authorities say she suffered apparently non-life-threatening injuries.
Several vehicles collided on the Kansas Turnpike about 10 miles north of Emporia shortly after 8 am. The Highway Patrol says a vehicle driven by 25-year-old Shawn Sandlin of Minneapolis was southbound and rear-ended a vehicle driven by 53-year-old Rhonda Cunningham of Emporia. Cunningham’s car was stationary on the right shoulder, but it then rear-ended a southbound vehicle driven by 57-year-old George Tabarez of El Centro, Calif. Less than five minutes later, a semi driven by 69-year-old Vernon Braunschewig of Lansing jackknifed, hit the center barrier wall and then his Sandlin’s vehicle. Sandlin was the only person hurt and was taken to Newman Regional Health for treatment with suspected minor injuries.
Additional details are pending after a reported injury crash in the 3300 block of Road L near Allen.
An ice storm warning remains in effect for Coffey, Greenwood and Osage counties until noon with up to half an inch of total ice accumulation possible. Lyon and other surrounding counties are in a winter weather advisory until noon with up to 0.2 inches of icing possible.
So far, only a handful of power outages have developed areawide. The largest so far affects nearly 180 Westar Energy customers east of Overbrook.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for weather and travel updates — and make sure to connect to KVOE on Twitter@kvoeam1400 or Facebook@kvoenews for instant alerts if you haven’t already done so. If you have schedule adjustments to report, whether they are closings, cancellations, postponements or delays, call KVOE at 620-342-1400 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
Click here for Wednesday’s KVOE News winter weather coverage.
