Saturday, March 28, 2009

Heavy snow, ice and sleet resulted in the closure of numerous roads and highways across Kansas and stranded travelers in towns and along the roadside. Although hampered by weather conditions, the Kansas National Guard and Kansas Highway Patrol sent equipment and manpower to assist local authorities in search and rescue efforts.

The Kansas Highway Patrol sent out an aerial search by fixed wing plane from Hays at approximately 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 28, to fly over areas of South Central and Southwest Kansas to search for possible stranded motorists. The plane has already flown over Kingman, Kiowa and Pratt Counties and is currently en route to Reno and Rice Counties.

The Kansas National Guard is sending out Humvees to Pratt County to assist in search and rescue and to Reno County to transport medical personnel to and from hospitals. Guardsmen and Humvees were also dispatched to Seward County for search and rescue and to transport medical personnel.

National Guard Armories Open

In addition to Humvees, the Kansas National Guard is responding by opening armories in several counties as warming stations to house stranded motorists who have been rescued. The armories in Dodge City, Great Bend, Hutchinson, Kingman, Larned, Pratt and the armory in West Wichita have been opened.

Power Outages Increase

Westar is reporting nearly 19,000 Kansas customers without power, up from approximately 17,000 earlier this morning. Kansas Rural Electric Cooperatives is reporting six of their RECs as having extensive power outages and have requested mutual aid from other rural electric cooperatives from Kansas to assist them in restoring power. They report most of their problems in South Central Kansas.

Road Closures

The Kansas Department Transportation has re-opened US-83 southbound out of Garden City. US-50 is open around Dodge City and from Dodge City west.

However, US-83 remains closed from Sublette to Liberal. KDOT crews are currently working to re-open US-83 south of Sublette. K-27 is now open from Syracuse to Johnson City. Please call 511 or visit http://511.ksdot.org before traveling.

The road closed list in southwest Kansas (and extending into south central Kansas) is as follows:

* US-54 from Oklahoma/Kansas state line to Kingman.
* US-56 from Elkhart (Oklahoma/Kansas state line) to Larned.
* US-83 from Sublette to Oklahoma/Kansas state line.
* US-160 from Colorado/Kansas state line to Medicine Lodge.
* US-183 from Kinsley to Oklahoma/Kansas state line.
* US-283 from Jetmore to Oklahoma/Kansas state line.
* US-400 from Dodge City east to Mullinville (and then to Kingman on US-54/400).
* K-23 from Dighton south to Oklahoma/Kansas state line.
* K-25 from Lakin south to Oklahoma/Kansas state line.
* K-27 from Johnson City to Elkhart.
* K-34 from US-400 junction north of Bucklin to US-160 junction in Clark County.
* K-51 from Colorado/Kansas state line to US-83.
* K-94 in Clark and Ford counties.
* K-98 from Fowler west and south.
* K-144 from US-83 to US-56.
* K-156 from Garden City to Jetmore.
* K-190 south of Satanta.

Numerous roads in South Central Kansas, west of Wichita and south of Hutchinson were also reported closed this morning. Blowing snow caused drifting across many roads overnight. Travel across much of southwest Kansas is discouraged, even if the road appears open.

Snow totals reported are: Barber – 5 inches; Barton – 17 inches; Clay – 6 inches; Clark – 13 inches; Cloud – 4 inches; Comanche – 24 inches; Dickinson – 6 inches; Edwards – 22 inches; Ellis – 1 inches; Elk – 0.25 inches (freezing rain); Ellsworth – 9 inches; Finney – 16 inches; Ford – 14 inches; Grant – 19 inches; Gray – 14 inches; Greeley – 8 inches; Haskell – 15 inches; Harper – 8 inches and 4 inches sleet; Hodgeman – 8 inches; Kearny – 9 inches; Kingman – 12 inches; Kiowa – 10 inches; Lane – 3 inches; Liberal (Seward) – 12 inches; Lyon – 1 inch ice; Lincoln – 6 inches; Marshall – 2 inches; Meade – 13 inches; McPherson – 15 inches; Morris – 3 inches; Morton – 9 inches; Ness – 4 inches; Ottawa – 7 inches; Pratt – 28 inches; Pawnee – 9 inches; Reno – 18 inches; Rice – 15 inches; Riley – 7 inches; Russell – 2 inches; Saline – 10 inches; Scott – 7.5 inches; Sherman – 6 inches; Stafford – 17 inches; Stanton – 16 inches; Stevens – 12 inches; Wabaunsee – 1 inches.

Governor Kathleen Sebelius signed a State of Disaster Emergency declaration this morning for 62 counties.

The following 62 counties are included in the declaration:

Barber, Barton, Butler, Chautauqua, Chase, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Comanche, Cowley, Dickinson, Edwards, Ellis, Elk, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford, Geary, Gray, Grant, Greeley, Greenwood, Harvey, Harper, Hamilton, Haskell, Hodgeman, Jewell, Kearney, Kingman, Kiowa, Lane, Lincoln, Lyon, Marion, Marshall, McPherson, Meade, Morton, Morris, Ness, Ottawa, Pawnee, Pottawatomie, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Riley, Rush, Russell, Saline, Sedgwick, Scott, Seward, Sherman, Stanton, Stafford, Stevens, Sumner, Wabaunsee, Wallace, and Wichita counties.

The declaration authorizes the use of state funds and resources, including equipment and personnel of the Kansas National Guard, to respond to emergency situations in affected counties.

Eleven counties issued local disaster declarations, as well. They are Barton, Butler, Cowley, Harper, Harvey, Marion, Pawnee, Pratt, Reno, Seward, and Stafford counties.