Organizers of the annual Symphony in the Flint Hills say their emergency action plan worked successfully to keep around 7,000 people safe from a powerful incoming storm.
Event organizers had been tracking the storm complex as it formed. Once it became apparent the storm was headed towards Chase County, organizers made the call to activate an emergency action plan, had all the needed personnel in place to execute the plan within 15 minutes and started evacuating all the concertgoers to their vehicles. Significant damge to tents and poles has been reported, but nobody was injured.
Site coordinator Bill Hartnett says the safest place in a storm is a car, according to unspecified experts. He acknowledged the slow process of moving people away from the concert site, but he also says everyone was in the safest place when the storm hit.
Symphony in the Flint Hills board chair Julie Hower credited the team of volunteers and staff responsible for executing the evacuation, and she thanked the guests for their patience and understanding “through this unique circumstance.”
8:30 pm Saturday: Severe thunderstorms lead to early end for Symphony in the Flint Hills Signature Event
Mother nature cooperated briefly for the 2022 Symphony in the Flint Hills Saturday evening, but unfortunately, severe weather cut the premiere event short.
The Kansas City Symphony was able to begin their featured performance in Irma’s Pasture near Bazaar to a crowd of right around 7,000 individuals.
Unfortunately, a strong line of thunderstorms pushed through the area just before 8 pm causing the concert to end prematurely. Ironically, this year’s theme was “Weather in Kansas” a nod to the microburst that blew threw Chase County and canceled the event altogether in 2019.
While the weather itself was not amusing, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, who was in attendance for the event, couldn’t help but find this year’s theme poetic.
Along with the sunset concert performed by the Kansas City Symphony the event featured a traditional slate of activities throughout the day including talks and presentations, guided prairie walks, covered wagon rides, music, poetry, stargazing and dancing. Also this year, patrons had the opportunity to meet with New York Times bestselling author Candice Millard, author of “River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile during a book signing at the Symphony in the Flint Hills Gallery in Cottonwood Falls.
Photos by Tagan Trahoon/KVOE NewsÂ
