Messy Thursday

Dodge City, KS (westernkansasnews.com) High winds were mostly to blame for several wrecks and lost of electricity Thursday morning.  Victory Electric worked all day restoring power to Ford County residents.  The good news was Victory Electric says that 80 percent of residential users had their electricity back by noon. Because the power was out some schools in Dodge City and the Community College were closed.  

Several wrecks were reported between Holcomb and Lakin on US 50.  KDOT had to close the road for a time.  No significant injuries were reported with any of those wrecks. Interstate 70 was closed until 8:30 in the morning from Wakeeney west to the Colorado state line because of high winds and low visibility. 

Kdot spokesman Kirk Hutchinson says there was one aspect of the weather that made driving extremely dangerous.

Isolated incidents of minor damage to trees or fencing was reported, but nothing of a high significance beyond those scattered reports.  Meteorologist confirm that the peak winds in Garden City reached 71MPH at 4:30 Thursday morning.