Winds as high as 95 mph sweep through Salina, causing ‘widespread damage’
Salinans were cleaning up limbs and some were still without power after winds as high as 95 mph were recorded Wednesday night in the city.
At 7:50 a.m. Thursday, Evergy’s online outage map showed the Salina area still had 4,652 customers affected by 269 power outages. Late Wednesday, about 18,000 Salina residents were without power.
Meteorologist Scott Smith, of the National Weather Service in Wichita, Thursday morning said that they had received reports of wind gusts Wednesday night as high as 95 mph in the city.
“I’m sure we’ll get more as the sun comes up, but we have a few reports of extensive tree damage in Salina (as well),” Smith said.
Tree limbs and branches, like the one near Cloud Street and Sycamore Street in Salina, were down all over the area after a wind storm came through northern Kansas. The National Weather Service in Wichita said there were reports of 95 mph wind gusts in Salina.
Damage across Salina and Saline County
At 11:20 p.m. Wednesday, the Saline County Commission issued a verbal state of disaster emergency proclamation for the county.
Michelle Weis, director of emergency management for Saline County, said there was widespread damage throughout the city and the county, including structurally, privately and limbs down around the area.
“We have coordinated with the City of Salina and the street department is going to go through, divide the city up into quadrants with crews and clear limbs,” Weis said.
A stoplight at the intersection of Crawford and Ninth Streets in Salina was turned on its side after a wind storm came through the area Wednesday night. Salina saw wind gusts of 95 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Wichita.
While street crews began work shortly after the storm came through, Weis said because of the multiple power outages throughout the area, they hadn’t been to get to every reported street blockage due to the darkness.
Additionally, Weis said her office has been in contact with Evergy, which had crews out beginning Wednesday night, working on power restoration across the area.
“Unfortunately, some of the damage is not as easy as, no pun intended, but a flip of a switch for them, so tentatively they’re telling me to plan for power outages throughout Friday afternoon,” Weis said. “They’re still going out this morning to try and gauge how bad certain neighborhoods and cities are.”
While she said she understands the frustration of not having power, Weis encouraged residents to be patient.
This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina dealing with aftermath, damage of storm that saw 95 mph wind
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