Slick conditions led to several wrecks in and around Emporia on Thursday.
An Emporia Public Schools minivan crashed just east of Hobby Lobby on West 24th. USD 253 Community Relations Director Lyndel Landgren says the driver was OK afterward and no students were involved. Other details about the incident are currently pending.
Meanwhile, five people from the Kansas City metro area were hurt at the Kansas Turnpike’s Emporia tollgate as snowfall was underway around 4 am Thursday. An SUV driven by 43-year-old Luis Anavisca of Kansas City, Kansas, crashed after Anavisca went off a ramp into a ditch and rolled. Anavisca had suspected serious injuries. Four others were transported with possible injuries. The crash forced the southbound onramp from the tollgate to the highway to be closed for about 45 minutes.
A second injury crash happened on the Turnpike shortly after 6:30 am. The Turnpike Authority says 24-year-old Brent Lidtke of Kansas City, Kansas, crashed while heading southbound at mile marker 103, 24 miles southwest of the Emporia gate. Lidtke was taken to an unspecified hospital afterward.
Travel conditions were occasionally slick for major routes from late Wednesday night through the morning commute but have improved considerably since then with temperatures in the 20s and abundant sunshine. Public Works staffers are not expecting any refreeze issues after sunset, even as temperatures fall to the upper teens overnight.
The winter storm that hit the area didn’t produce much in the way of snow:
*KVOE studios: 0.375 inches
*Cottonwood Falls: 2.5 inches
*Eureka: 0.80 inches
Any snow we received should be melted by late Friday afternoon as temperatures climb to the low 40s. Temperatures get into the 50s for the weekend with a good chance of rain Sunday.
