HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Storms rocked south central Kansas late Thursday night into Friday morning causing a lot of damage to power poles and lines across the area. This knocked out power to most of the city. As of 1 a.m., there were as many as 16,000 electric customers without power in the county, according to Todd Strain with Emergency Management, most of those in the Hutchinson area, however power did start to come on around 1:30 a.m. Both Harvey and Sedgwick counties also had numerous power outages because of the storm.
There were also reports of structural damage to some buildings and homes across the area and trees uprooted in the Pretty Prairie area.
Seventy to 75 mph straight line winds were common as the storms moved across the area. Large hail was also included with ping pong size and larger in some areas.
Westar Energy says as of 6 a.m., 50,000 customers were without power, including 31,000 in Sedgwick County; 7,800 in Reno County; 7,900 in Harvey County and 1,900 in Butler County.
School was canceled Friday in Wichita and Maize because of the power outages.
Harvey County officials say the Newton Public Library suffered major structural damage, with a large portion of its roof blown off and lying in adjacent Military Park. The former Alco store building, which is being used as a warehouse, also suffered partial roof collapse.
A number of businesses near Washington Road and Kansas Avenue in that area, including Midway Motors and Lupe’s Carryout, sustained structural damage and broken windows.
Newton Fire/EMS transported three people to Wesley Medical Center after a mobile home collapse in Whitewater. Vehicle accidents included two semis overturned on I-135 and an injury accident at 24th and Meridian involving downed power lines.
According to Midwest spokesman Mike Morley, about 7,700 customers were out of service beginning at 11 p.m. in an area south of Kansas 96 from Jetmore to just west of Hutchinson.
As of 6:30 a.m., approximately 3,600 customers were still without power.
Morley said an estimated 100 poles were downed by the high winds overnight.
He reminded residents not to drive over down lines and to never try to move downed lines by themselves.
Crews continue to work to restore power, Morley said.