Nearly two full days after damaging thunderstorms blasted through Greenwood County, Evergy has finished restoring power.
Evergy’s outage map showed over 1,000 power outages shortly after the storms raked central Greenwood County with winds anywhere from 66-93 mph. Those high winds knocked down tree limbs large and small — and also brought down large trees — creating the outages and also making it difficult to get crews to different trouble spots because the downed limbs and trees blocked a number of city streets and county roads.
Outages were restored by late Monday afternoon.
The same storm crossed the Symphony in the Flint Hills site in central Chase County, ending the annual concert early and forcing an evacuation of around 7,000 people to their vehicles as the storm approached. Event organizers reported significant equipment damage but no injuries.
9 am Monday: Evergy looks to have all storm-related outages from Saturday night restored by noon Monday
Evergy made a lot of progress Sunday as the utility restored power to most residents affected by a potent storm cluster Saturday night.
The storm complex dumped quarter-sized hail in Plymouth and generated winds as high as 93 mph near Eureka — which had over 1,000 power outages after the cluster rolled over the city. As of 6:30 am Monday, less than 50 outages were left.
Spokesman Andrew Baker tells KVOE News the storm caused a lot of damage, mainly to trees in central Greenwood County.
Baker says the goal is to get the remaining outages handled before noon Monday, if not a lot sooner than that. Local crews worked Saturday night through Sunday morning, with regional crews in the area as of early Sunday. Several local crews are continuing through the overnight hours. Out-of-town crews are set to resume their work by 5 am Monday.
6:15 pm Sunday: Under 150 Evergy customers in Eureka still without power after Saturday night’s storms
Evergy continues to make progress in restoring power to central Greenwood County.
Powerful storms downed an untold number of trees and limbs, closing a number of county roads and Eureka city streets while knocking power offline to over 1,000 Evergy customers in and around Eureka. As of 6 pm, less than 150 customers remained without power.
KVOE News has reached out to Greenwood County Sheriff Heath Samuels for an update on the damage.
1:45 pm Sunday: Evergy power outages trimmed to under 320 in Eureka
Evergy continues work to restore power to hundreds of customers in central Greenwood County after powerful storms Saturday night.
The immediate Eureka area had over 1,000 customers offline shortly after a dangerous storm complex rolled south across the county. Before 6 am, Evergy has the outage count under 450. The number increased to nearly 600 by 8 am but has declined to under 320 as of 1 pm.
Greenwood County Emergency Dispatch says there are several county roads and streets in Eureka that are blocked by downed trees as a result of winds as high as 66-93 mph. The same storm generated winds of 60-75 mph further north in places like Teterville, Thrall and near Madison.
7 pm Saturday-10 am Sunday: Over 500 Evergy customers in Eureka without power after dangerous storms Saturday night
Severe thunderstorms brought hail, high winds, power outages and enough low-level rotation to trigger a pair of tornado warnings Saturday night.
Thankfully, no tornadoes were reported in rural areas of southwest Lyon County, southeast Chase County or northwest Greenwood County, but the storm complex dumped quarter-sized hail from Americus to Plymouth and generated winds as high as 93 mph near Eureka — which had over 1,000 power outages after the cluster rolled over the city.
Here in Emporia, we had 0.40 inches of rain.
Storm reports
*Emporia Municipal Airport: 0.47 inches rainfall
*1100 block Constitution: 0.40 inches rainfall
*South and Sylvan: 0.50 inches
*1 mile west of Eureka Airport: 93 mph winds
*5 miles north of Eureka: 66 mph winds. Major tree damage reported in Eureka city limits by Greenwood County Emergency Management
*Irma’s Pasture (Symphony in the Flint Hills site): 60 mph winds, 0.88-inch hail
*8 miles west of Madison: 75 mph winds
*Matfield Green: 65 mph winds
*Neosho Rapids: 0.10 inches rainfall
*Plymouth: 1-inch hail
*Saffordville: 1.6 inches rainfall
*Teterville: 60 mph winds
*Thrall: 70 mph winds
Thousands of people attending the Symphony in the Flint Hills were enjoying the music and the theme, “Weather in the Flint Hills,” until the storm approached Irma’s Pasture in south-central Chase County. The concert was canceled midway through the event and people were sent to their vehicles. KVOE News received several reports of concertgoers noticing penny to dime sized hail, wind gusts around 60 mph and extremely slow traffic exiting the concert site. The area was under a severe thunderstorm warning but not in the tornado warning that affected southeast Chase, southwest Lyon and northwest Greenwood counties. Click here for more on the Symphony in the Flint Hills.
Over 1,000 power outages were reported in Eureka initially and over 500 were without power as of 10 am. Storms have already triggered over 100 outages for Evergy customers west of Council Grove, along with over 50 in Emporia. Those have been restored.
If you have rain or storm reports, message the KVOE Bluestem Farm and Ranch Supply text line at 620-342-5863.
5:40 pm Saturday: Lyon, most surrounding counties in severe thunderstorm watch until midnight
Once again, a risk of severe weather covers much of the KVOE listening area.
A severe thunderstorm watch is now posted for Lyon and most surrounding counties — Coffey, Morris, Osage and Wabaunsee — until 12 am Sunday. The National Weather Service says hail to the size of tennis balls or 2 inches in diameter, wind gusts up to 80 mph and isolated tornadoes are possible. Heavy rain is another concern.
The Saturday evening severe weather risk follows isolated severe thunderstorm activity early Friday that led to several Evergy power poles downed, a resulting power outage near Reading that took most of Friday to fix and several sheds either damaged or destroyed between Reading and Lebo.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for updates. If you haven’t already joined KVOE’s social media channels — Facebook and Instagram, both @kvoenews, and Twitter@kvoeam1400 — please do so to get instant weather and travel alerts. KVOE’s volunteer Storm Team spotter network is poised to give reports as needed.
