(Lyon County)-Power outage leaves over 1,000 Lyon-Coffey Electric Cooperative members without powerThe accumulation of ice on trees and power lines caused over 1,000 Lyon-Coffey Electric members to lose power over a four county area. Lyon-Coffey crews are working to restore power to those affected by the ice. As of 5:00 pm this evening, the cooperative is receiving additional outage calls in the western portion of its territory. Westar has reported it is experiencing problems with their transmission lines and therefore is unable to provide power to Lyon-Coffey at our metering points in the Virgil and Toronto areas. Westar does not anticipate restoration of service until sometime Sunday, March 29th. As soon as Westar restores service to Lyon-Coffey we will be able to ascertain the extent of damage and then work on restoration efforts. There are numerous downed poles affecting the Americus, Allen and Admire areas that will require several hours to repair.The Cooperative suggests that anyone with medical necessities in these affected areas to find alternative accommodations for the evening.The cooperative is asking that any member that is without power to please call 1-800-748-7395 to report their outage.
Kansas City International Airport:

The Kansas City International Airport is back open after being closed for about two hours Saturday. Airport Officials urge travelers to check their website for flight delays or cancellations.

www.flykci.com

(Topeka, KS) -- From the office of the Governor: Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a declaration of a State of Disaster Emergency following significant snowfall and ice in Southwest and South Central Kansas.

“It is important that we ensure Kansas counties have the resources they need,” said Sebelius. “This storm system has hit parts of our state hard, left many residents without power, forced numerous roads closed and resulted in multiple accidents, including one fatality.”

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. This also includes missions such as power generation to critical infrastructures (hospitals, nursing homes, shelters), communication support, health and welfare checks on isolated homes, debris removal needed for life safety, transporting feed to stranded livestock and other emergency aid necessary for the health and safety of the public.

From the Adjutant General's Office:

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:

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

US-54 from Oklahoma/Kansas state line to Sedgwick County.

US-56 from Hugoton to Larned.

US-83 closed at Oklahoma/Kansas state line; open in Kansas.

US-160 from US-83 in Seward County to Medicine Lodge.

US-183 from Kinsley to Oklahoma/Kansas state line.

US-283 from Dodge City to Oklahoma/Kansas state line.

US-400 from Dodge City east to Mullinville (and then to Kingman on US-54/400).

K-23 from K-156 south to Oklahoma/Kansas state line.

K-25 from US-56/K-25 junction, south to Oklahoma/Kansas state line.

K-34 from US-400 junction north of Bucklin to US-160 junction in Clark County.

K-51 in extreme western Morton County to the Colorado/Kansas state line.

K-94 in Clark and Ford counties.

K-98 from Fowler west and south.

K-190.

Several counties across Kansas are experiencing winter-like weather, despite the fact that it is almost April. Cold, wet weather has put a damper on many weekend activities, and several events have been cancelled.

Westar Energy is reporting almost 20,000 power outages across the state, with more than 2,300 in Lyon County. Flint Hills Rural Electric is reporting outages, but no specific numbers.

The Kansas Jayhawks Sweet 16 team was set to return to Forbes Field, but was diverted to Kansas City because of the weather.

Shawnee County dispatch tells 13 News that the Topeka Police Department is not currently in a phase, and normal accident procedures are in place. There have been some slide-offs, but no serious accidents as of yet.

Stay tuned to the 13 Weather team for more updates as the storm event passes through the state.

***A Winter Storm Warning Remains in Effect for Most of the Area through 7PM Saturday Evening***

The same storm system that dumped 28 inches of snow on Prat, KS has brought a mixture of Freezing rain, sleet, and snow to NE Kansas. Snowfall amounts have been on the order of 4-8 inches around Manhattan, Junction City, and in Morris County. Salina has seen over 10 inches of snow. Farther to the East, from Topeka to Emporia the precipitation has been more Freezing Rain and Sleet than snow. An additional 1-3 inches of sleet/snow will be possible before the storm moves out. Driving conditions are hazardous in all areas and travel is not advised.