The severe thunderstorms that rolled through Junction City and Geary County Thursday evening left damaged trees on 11th Street and Grant Avenue and left hundreds of residents without power.
As of 9:30 pm Westar Energy was reporting up to 475 customers were without power in the downtown area from Clay Street to Monroe Street and Sixth Street to 16th Street. That included the downtown area going west to and including the Dillons Food Store. Factoring in all outages more than 500 occurred in Junction City.
Wind gusts of 59 mph and pea sized hail was reported at the Marshall Army Airfield on Fort Riley. Wind gusts of 65 mph were also reported two miles east of Abilene.
Garry Berges, Geary County Emergency Management Director, said there were 50-60 mile per hour winds in different parts of the county. ” I had different people out watching the weather for us. We were limited because a lot of our people that would normally be out spotting…our law enforcement, some of our volunteer firefighters were out there helping work the accident.” There was a three-vehicle accident on I-70 near the Marshall Army Airfield that sent four people to Geary Community Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Berges stated pea size to a little larger sized hail fell in different locations. As of late Thursday evening he reported that authorities were unable to determine any severe damage.
The Severe Thunderstorm Watch that had been in effect until 10 pm has been extended and is now in effect until 2 am. That watch does include Geary, Riley, Morris, Wabaunsee, Clay, Pottawatomie and Dickinson Counties.
