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 16,000 electric customers without power in the county according to Todd Strain with Emergency Management, most of those is 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 up rooted in the Pretty Prairie area.
70 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.
Crews were still assessing the damage and checking on the welfare of county residents early Friday morning. Strain says after the sun comes up, they will be out assessing the full extent of the damage.
No reports of any injuries as a result of the storms according to Strain.
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 still were 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.