Travel conditions have improved considerably since the KVOE listening area had several rounds of snow and sleet Sunday.
Conditions got slushy in a hurry, both at the start of the event before 2 pm and again after a round of heavy sleet between 4-5 pm. Lyon County Deputy Jeff Rodriguez:
Lyon County Engineer Chip Woods says the more significant travel conditions, at least after midnight, have been north of Emporia. Crews have been treating the paved county roads like Americus Road and Allen Road, along with spot-treating Burlingame Road.
Both county and city crews went out by 3 am Monday, with county crews out for much of the event Sunday.
Unfortunately, two people died in a multi-vehicle crash west of Emporia as wintry weather returned to the KVOE listening area Sunday afternoon. The wreck happened at US Highway 50 and C. A third Person went to Newman Regional Health with suspected serious injuries. Details are pending.
There are several schedule adjustments for Monday, currently dealing with schools. Click here to see the KVOE.com Closings and Cancellations page. If you need to call in a schedule adjustment, call KVOE at 620-342-1400 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
Meanwhile, over 3,000 Evergy customers from southwest Emporia to eastern Coffey County were without power for much of Sunday evening after a string of outages that started shortly after 4:30 pm. At one point, over 2,100 customers from the Emporia Municipal Airport to just south of Emporia State University were impacted, including most of downtown and a significant portion of the West Sixth Avenue business corridor. That outage resolved overnight. Nearly 700 Evergy customers from Melvern Lake to just west of Gridley, including Lebo and Neosho Rapids, were offline but that outage was restored before 9 pm. Another 500 customers lost power from Waverly east past Agricola. Power was finally restored after 5 am. All outages were caused by weather-related equipment failures.
4 Rivers Electric Cooperative lost power to several distribution points like Hartford, Melvern and Waverly, with individual and line outages also at the Agricola and Thunderbird distribution points. Those outages ran for about three hours before they were restored.
We’ll keep you updated on KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media. Be sure to join KVOE social media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter if you haven’t already done so.
9:20 pm Sunday: Two dead after crash west of Emporia
Two people are dead following a crash near the junction of US Highway 50 and Road C.
Details are pending from the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, including names. Deputy Jody Meyers says the initial indication is three vehicles were involved.
The crash was among several in Lyon County that developed between 4:30 -5:30 pm as a round of heavy sleet crossed Emporia and other parts of Lyon County. Details on those crashes are also pending.
Road crews are out treating streets. Lyon County Sheriff Jeff Cope says highways are wet as of 8:30 pm but elevated surfaces may refreeze overnight. Drivers are asked to be careful.
Meanwhile, over 3,000 Evergy customers from southwest Emporia to eastern Coffey County remain without power after a string of outages that started shortly after 4:30 pm. The biggest single outage involves an area from just north of the Emporia Municipal Airport to just southwest of Emporia State University. Causes have not been determined.
There are several schedule adjustments for Monday, currently dealing with schools. Click here for the KVOE.com Closings and Cancellations page.
7 pm Sunday: As law enforcement works slate of injury crashes, area power outage number surpasses 3,000
Wintry weather has not been kind to area travelers or power grids Sunday.
Lyon County authorities are working a multi-vehicle crash that happened at US Highway 50 and Road C a bit after 4:30 pm, as well as several other injury crashes that happened between 4:30-5:30 pm. Details on the wrecks are pending.
Meanwhile, Evergy crews saw their workload increase immensely with a spate of outages between Emporia and Waverly. Close to 2,000 Evergy customers are offline from just north of the Emporia Municipal Airport to south-central downtown and into southwest Emporia. Almost 700 Evergy customers remain without power from Melvern Lane south past Hartford, including Lebo and Neosho Rapids. Almost 500 Evergy customers are offline from Waverly to Agricola.
4 Rivers Electric has not confirmed its number of customer outages, but it has confirmed loss of power supply at its Hartford, Melvern and Waverly distribution points. There were also some individual and line outages for the Agricola and Thunderbird distribution points.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for updates.
5:30 pm Sunday: Several injury crashes, power outages reported as wintry weather returns to area
Travel conditions are deteriorating across Lyon County and surrounding counties after a brief burst of moderate to heavy sleet.
Several injury crashes were reported west and northwest of Emporia, including US Highway 50 and Road E and two along US Highway 56 — one near the Morris County line and one near Road E. Reports from these wrecks are currently pending.
Non-injury slideoffs started being reported in parts of Lyon County after 4 pm, about 30 minutes before the injury crashes started getting called to Lyon County Emergency Communications.
Up to two inches of a snow-sleet combination are expected across the KVOE listening area through early Monday morning. Highway conditions are partly to completely covered from Emporia to the west, according to Kandrive.org.
Besides the travel issues, close to 700 Evergy customers from Melvern Lake southwest to Hartford, including Neosho Rapids and Lebo, are currently without power after a pair of outages developed shortly after 4:30 pm. Also, nearly 500 Evergy customers in and around Waverly are without power, thanks to a trio of outages that also developed shortly after 4:30 pm. Evergy’s current estimate has power to be restored after 6 pm for these outages. Causes have not been announced.
4:20 pm Sunday: Lyon, most area counties in winter weather advisory until midnight; Osage County in separate advisory until 4 am
Initially, a prospect for a wintry mix and light snowfall was setting up by late Sunday night into early Monday morning. The precipitation has moved in faster than expected, so all area counties are now in a winter weather advisory until midnight.
There are now several winter weather advisories up for the area. Lyon, Chase, Morris and Wabaunsee counties are in advisories until midnight. Osage County is in an advisory until 4 am Monday.
Residents for Lyon and surrounding counties can expect up to two inches of a snow-sleet mixture. Visibility could be a mile or less through the evening hours, so travelers need to keep that in mind along with the risk of slick driving conditions into early Monday. Slick conditions have already started across Lyon County with at least one slideoff crash reported shortly after 4 pm.
We’ll keep you updated on KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media. If you haven’t already done so, sign up for KVOE’s social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
3:30 pm Sunday: Morris, Wabaunsee counties join Chase County in winter weather advisory until midnight
Wintry weather is expected areawide before midnight, and winter weather advisories have been expanded to cover nearly half the counties in the KVOE listening area.
The National Weather Service has Morris and Wabaunsee counties in an advisory until midnight alongside Chase County. As is the case in Chase County, up to two inches of a snow-sleet mix is expected in Morris and Wabaunsee counties.
In Lyon County, thunder sleet has been reported outside Allen, with pea-sized hail in Americus and ice pellets in Emporia.
1:10 pm Sunday: Winter weather advisory posted for Chase County until midnight
Saturday had temperatures approaching 80 degrees, a critical fire danger and a chance of thunderstorms. Sunday is closing with a chance of snow and sleet, especially west of Emporia.
The National Weather Service has announced a winter weather advisory for Chase County effective until midnight. The Weather Service expects a period of moderate to heavy sleet and snow, including occasional thunder, at times through the evening hours. Visibility may be under a mile and slick road conditions are expected.
Monday will have sunshine with highs in the low 40s. Another chance of light rain and snow develops Thursday.
