UPDATE: Westar warns it may be Saturday before all Flint Hills power outages are restored

It may be Saturday before power is fully restored across the Flint Hills after severe thunderstorms left a trail of downed lines and major power outages well before sunrise Friday.

Numerous power outages developed throughout the KVOE listening area with around 3,700 Westar Energy customers still without power in Emporia. The number climbed to around 9,500 at one point. Other Westar outages:

*Americus: Over 700 peak
*Cottonwood Falls, Strong City: 70
*Cedar Point to Elmdale: 170
*Council Grove to Wilsey: 260
*Eureka: 70 peak
*Olpe: 450 peak

Lyon-Coffey Electric says about 1,000 customers are offline throughout its coverage area. About 25 poles were broken due to the storm activity.

There are also stoplights confirmed offline at the following intersections:

*Commercial at Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and South
*Merchant at Sixth and Seventh
*Prairie at Sixth and 12th
*Sixth at Congress and Constitution

West 12th is also blocked between Garfield and Grand, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe west crossing arm at Commercial Street was blown off.

Severe winds also impacted the listening area leading to widespread damage. This includes:

*Emporia: 89-93 mph winds. Numerous trees and power lines damaged. Shed was blown into roadway at Road 205 and Burlingame; shed has since been cleared
*Hartford: 70 mph wind
*New Strawn: 63 mph wind
*Olpe: 89 mph wind. Severe damage reported to a Davis Ag silo. Concession stand blown into softball field backstop
*Osage City: 60 mph

Police Lt. Kevin Risley says there is damage all across town.

Lyon County Emergency Management Director Jarrod Fell tells KVOE News the main priority for emergency crews at this time is the removal of debris for the morning commute. Fell says crews are making good progress on that front.

At least one area school district is canceling class due to the storms. USD 252 Southern Lyon County Superintendent Mike Argabright says power is out in Neosho Rapids and Olpe, and there is wind damage to assess. The Emporia Golf Course is closed and the Emporia Public Library won’t open until 1 pm.

A semi was also blown over on the Kansas Turnpike nine miles southwest of Emporia around 1:20 am. The Turnpike Authority says the driver, 36-year-old Justin Kubecki of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and a passenger, 52-year-old David Donaldson of Bell Vernon, Pennsylvania, were both taken to Newman Regional Health for treatment after possible injuries.

In addition, the Lyon County Emergency Communication Center had intermittent phone service overnight due to the storms, according to Director Roxanne VanGundy.

Calls were transferred to McPherson County for several hours to handle the high load of calls that developed. Service was restored a bit after 5 am.

As if the damaging winds were not enough, heavy rain has also fallen on the area:

*KVOE studios: 2.4 inches
*East Emporia: 1.7 inches
*North Central Emporia: 1.75 inches
*Americus: 3.2 inches
*Reading: 2.4 inches

Unfortunately, flood warnings are up for parts of the KVOE listening area. Osage County is in a flood warning until 12:45 pm after up to 5 inches of rainfall earlier Friday, and the Marais des Cygnes River at Reading is in a warning until around 2 am Saturday. The river may crest at 20.9 feet Friday afternoon, above flood stage of 19, and then go below flood stage by Friday evening.

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