Power outages continue across the KVOE listening area, but the scope of those outages is far less extensive than it was shortly after powerful storms rolled over the area Wednesday afternoon and early evening.
Over 4,000 Evergy customers and 2,000 4 Rivers customers were offline shortly after the storms left the area Wednesday evening. By sunrise Thursday, the Evergy total was down to around 1,500 and the 4 Rivers total was around 1,100. As of 8:30 pm, the outage number was down considerably — thanks in large part to the clearing of major outages involving over 650 Evergy customers in and around Americus, Allen and Bushong. Currently, there are less than 200 Evergy outages: under 50 in Emporia, around 100 in Eureka, under 20 near Lebo and 10 in Council Grove.
By 7:30 pm, 4 Rivers had power restored to all its substations and distribution points. Power came on earlier to the Americus and Thunderbird substations.
Evergy started with over 250,000 customers offline after storms brought winds from 60-100 mph across Kansas as well as hail to the size of softballs. Evergy has partnered with Ameren, Liberty Utilities and the city of Springfield, Missouri, to tackle its outages.
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4 pm Thursday: Progress is being made, but a lot of work still remains to fully restore power to affected customers following Wednesday’s damaging storms
Customers of power companies are being asked to be patient if they don’t have their power restored after Wednesday’s high winds and severe weather.
Evergy President and CEO David Campbell says crews managed to restore power to more than 75 percent of their customers in the span of 12 hours. Due to the widespread nature of the damage and the remaining workload, Campbell says they have reached out to neighboring utilities for assistance.
Even with the extra help, Campbell says it could still be a “couple more days” before power is fully restored to all affected customers.
4 Rivers General Manager Dennis Svanes says they have completed most of the repairs to their systems and infrastructure, however, full power restoration will be dependent on when repair work is complete to transmission lines that tie in cooperatively with Evergy’s systems. Svanes says he cannot give a firm timeline for when those issues may be resolved, however, he is hopeful that two substations — Americus and Thunderbird — could be back up and running by Friday at the latest.
Even once repairs have been complete on the transmission end, Svanes says, like Evergy, they will still have their hands full restoring smaller scale “door-to-door” outages.
We’ll continue to keep you updated on the aftermath of Wednesday’s weather on KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media.
2:23 pm Thursday:
Power outage numbers continue coming down for Evergy and 4 Rivers Electric after Wednesday’s damaging straight-line winds and severe storms.
At the peak of the outages Wednesday night, there were over 4,000 Evergy and 2,000 4 Rivers customers offline. As of 11 am, there are now about 850 outages for Evergy customers areawide and about 1,100 outages affecting 4 Rivers. Significant outages near Strong City, west of Madison and from Clements to Elmdale have all been cleared.
The largest set of outages by customer count is in northwest Lyon County, where over 650 Evergy customers are offline in Americus, Allen, Bushong and in rural areas between those communities.
Both utilities are still assessing the widespread damage to poles and lines.
Besides the immediate issues for residents and businesses, one school district — USD 251 North Lyon County — closed because there was no power at either of its schools. Interstate 35 traffic was adjusted at one junction as well, with the southbound exit at Merchant Street closed because of a downed power line.
There were several reports of wind damage, including a flagpole snapped at the base in north-central Emporia and a shed overturned three miles north of Americus. Part of the Sutherlands overhang protecting the lumber area was also peeled back, but Flinthills Mall Manager Clarence Frye says there is no apparent structural damage. There was also damage to the Emporia Church of the Nazarene’s upcoming Living Nativity area, but church leaders say the nativity will go on as planned Friday and Saturday nights. Church spokesman Everett Weems says things will be good to go.
At least one insurance agency has seen a significant uptick in calls after the storm activity, but Shelter Insurance agent Callie Medrano says the damage appears to be relatively minor in scope.
It didn’t take long for out-of-town roofing companies to start robocalling area residents about getting roof damage fixed after the high winds — over 60 mph, both from straight-line winds and severe storms — and hail up to the size of baseballs or softballs near Emporia. In fact, some robocalls started coming during the event. Medrano says residents need to start with their insurance agents, who can walk them through the process and point out reliable hometown roofers.
Meanwhile, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is urging residents to be mindful of illegal contractors. He suggests recommendations and references, at least three written estimates from different contractors, a check of complaint records with the Better Business Bureau, confirmed insurance for the contractor and documentation of all agreements in writing.
Also, Kansas First District US Congressman Tracey Mann is reminding ag producers about several federal programs if they suffered losses, including the Emergency Conservation Program, Livestock Indemnity Program and Emergency Assistance for Livestock Program all available through the US Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency offices. Links are online at KVOE.com.
Before the severe weather, there were at least two incidents involving semis overturned. The first incident, on the Kansas Turnpike near the Bazaar cattle pens, had a semi driven by 59-year-old Larry Barnhart of Hesston overturned before getting hit by a semi driven by 43-year-old Mark Hatfield of Wellington. Hatfield was taken to Newman Regional Health for treatment, while Barnhart was not transported. Also, a semi overturned on Interstate 35 between the East Sixth Avenue and Road R-1 exits. There is no report of injuries with that incident.
We’ll continue to keep you updated on the aftermath of Wednesday’s weather on KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media.
6 am Thursday: Crews make dent in overall power outage numbers; USD 251 closed Thursday due to power issues
If your power is still off from the straight-line winds and the severe storm activity from Wednesday, it may not seem like there has been much progress to getting the lights back on. However, power crews trimmed better than half the area’s outages overnight.
As of 8:30 pm, there were over 4,000 Evergy customers offline across our coverage area, including about 2,500 within a three-mile radius of Emporia. By 5 am, that number had dropped to slightly over 1,500, including less than 200 in Emporia, about 650 from Americus to Allen to Bushong, over 350 combined in Cottonwood Falls and Strong City and 90 in Council Grove. Significant outages near Madison and from Clements to Elmdale were cleared overnight.
4 Rivers had Evergy transmission substations serving four of its substations go down, although two have since returned to service. There were also outages on 4 Rivers’ own distribution side. General Manager Dennis Svanes says outages are widespread, although any numbers or concentration points are currently being determined. Numerous poles were downed near the Americus and Thunderbird distribution points. 4 Rivers is hoping to have power restored to those distribution points Thursday morning.
Widely scattered outages developed across Evergy’s territory through much of Wednesday as strong straight-line winds continued, topping 60 mph here but going well above that in north-central and western Kansas. Then severe storms rolled through, causing widespread outages across the network. Customers have been asking when power would be restored and Evergy Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Chuck Caisley says it could be several days.
Because of the outage situation, USD 251 North Lyon County is not having school Thursday. Several area districts, including North Lyon County, USD 284 Chase County, USD 417 Morris County and USD 456 Marais des Cygnes Valley, canceled practices or holiday concerts Wednesday night because of the weather conditions.
The storms also led to numerous downed lines in Lyon and most surrounding counties leading Lyon County Emergency Management Director Jarrod Fell to urge residents to stay home if possible overnight as work commenced to repair the damage. With those efforts likely to carry on through the remainder of the week, Fell says residents need to plan for the “long term.”
There were several reports of wind damage, including a flagpole snapped at the base in north central Emporia and a shed overturned three miles north of Americus. Part of the Sutherlands overhang protecting the lumber area was also peeled back, but Flinthills Mall Manager Clarence Frye says there is no apparent structural damage. So far, there have been no reports of injuries.
Large hail became an issue in and around Emporia as the storms moved through. Tennis ball- to baseball-sized hail was reported near Interstate 35 and Road R-1, with golf ball-sized hail reported at the Fanestil plant on Kansas Highway 99 and near the Interstate 35 Hartford-Neosho Rapids exit. Quarter to half-dollar-sized hail was reported at South and Union, with numerous reports of quarter-sized hail in Emporia and at Lake Kahola.
The heaviest storm-related wind gust was 61 mph at the Emporia Municipal Airport, but winds were high all day and actually high — up to 62 mph — before storms even developed. Those high winds blew two semis down in separate incidents, one on the Kansas Turnpike near the Bazaar cattle pens exit and one on Interstate 35 east of the East Sixth Avenue exit. Injury reports from both those wrecks are pending.
If there was any good from the storms, they brought our first measurable rainfall in over a month. The last measurable rain was 0.90 inches on Veterans Day. Wednesday’s total was 0.60 inches.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for more updates.
KVOE News reporter Tagan Trahoon contributed to this report.
