Storms cause power outages, school and road closures

Archive for Friday, May 2, 2008

May 2, 2008

Severe thunderstorms combined with violent winds caused Basehor residents to lose electricity Thursday night and early Friday morning..

Westar crews were called out to 158th Street and Metro Avenue about 4 a.m. to assess damages and begin repairs on 11 downed power line poles. Not only did the storm damage affect an estimated 2,200 Basehor residents, but it also closed 158th Street from Metro Avenue to Kansas Highway 32.

Erin La Row, communications representative for Westar Energy, said most customers' power has been restored, but at least one is still without power.

"We started noticing problems at almost midnight," she said. "They are working on it to get the power restored as quickly as possible."

Glenwood Ridge Elementary School is still without electricity. Basehor-Linwood school district Superintendent, Bob Albers, said GRES parents were informed through the district's automated calling tree about 7:15 a.m. that classes would be cancelled at the school for the day.

"The last we heard about 10 o'clock was that it would be anywhere from eight to 18 hours," Albers said Friday afternoon about restoring the power at the school.

On top of re-routing school buses this morning and afternoon because of the 158th Street closure, Albers said the storms also caused some damage to GRES.

"We lost an outdoor storage building and there is probably some electric motors that were burned out," he said. "We'll have to wait for the electricity to come back on to determine that, but I don't think it's anything that will keep us from having classes once the electricity comes back on."

At this point, Albers said, students are still within the required number of attendance hours, so GRES students will not have to make up the missed day of school.