Power has been restored to more than 1,500 Evergy customers following a significant outage in Emporia Friday morning.
Outages began being reported around 11 am in western Emporia affecting customers from Prairie Street to the Lyon County Highway Department north to south and West Ninth Avenue to just past Industrial Road east to west. The outage was restored nearly an hour after it was first reported.
The outage also affected a series of traffic lights in the western corridor. All lights are back up and running. No accidents were reported as a result of the traffic lights being offline.
A broken insulator was determined to be the cause of the outage according to Evergy.
At the same time of the outages, Emporia Fire and EMS were called out twice to Kansas Turnpike mile marker 106 southbound, 21 miles southwest of Emporia, for what turned out to be two injury accidents — with the first being reported around 10:30 am. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, a 2019 Grand Cherokee driven by 22-year-old Scott Relyea of Friso, Texas hydroplaned on the roadway due to wet conditions, entered a ditch and struck an embankment.
Scott Relyea suffered no apparent injury, however, a passenger, 56-year-old Sheryl Relyea also of Frisco, Texas was taken to Newman Regional Health with suspected minor injuries. Both were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the accident.
Less than 15 minutes later, a second injury crash was reported less than a quarter-mile away on the Turnpike. This wreck also involved a hydroplaned SUV, but the driver and a passenger both declined ambulance transports to hospitals.
11:40 am Friday: Power outages and injury accidents reported in 30 minute span Friday morning as moderate to heavy rainfall continues
A major power outage and at least one injury accident have been reported in and around Emporia as moderate to heavy rainfall continues.
Just before 11 am Friday an outage affecting more than 1,500 Evergy customers was reported in western Emporia. The outage is affecting customers from Prairie Street to the Lyon County Highway Department north to south and West Ninth Avenue to just past Industrial Road east to west.
The outage has also led to traffic lights losing power at the following locations:
*15th Avenue and Industrial
*6th and Prairie
*12th and Prairie
*US Highway 50 and Industrial Road
A cause of the outage is unknown at this time and Evergy crews are working to restore power to all effected customers. Smaller outages have been reported in Neosho Rapids.
At the same time, emergency crews have responded to Kansas Turnpike mile marker 106 southbound, 21 miles southwest of Emporia, for at least one injury accident. Crews were called to the same location twice with the calls coming in right around 10:30 am.
It is unclear whether or not weather conditions played a factor in either accident. Further details are currently pending.
The incidents come with moderate to heavy rainfall impacting the KVOE listening area throughout the morning hours. At the KVOE Studios we have received 0.25 inches.
If you have rain totals please message them to the Bluestem Farm and Ranch Text Line at 620-342-5863. Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for more updates as they become available.
