Kansas communities begin cleanup, damage surveys after storms rip off roofs, down trees - MASHAHER

The National Weather Service had survey teams out Monday assessing storm damage in Halstead, Newton and Russell after severe storms hit central Kansas on Sunday night.

Those storms brought rain, large hail, strong wind gusts and a few reported tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service.

The strongest wind gusts in the state were recorded at 100 mph at the Salina airport. The Newton and Halstead areas saw 60 mph winds gusts, according to the NWS.

The NWS received 15 reports of tornadoes Sunday in Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado, with six of those reported in Russell, Ellsworth, Lincoln and Osage County.

Halstead fire and EMS posted on Facebook Sunday that it had been hit by a tornado.

“We are evaluating [the] situation,” the agency said.

NWS Wichita meteorologist Ken Cook could not confirm if a tornado hit Halstead but said the survey team will make that assessment.

Damage in Halstead was extensive after a storm packing winds near 100 miles per hour, and possibly a tornado, struck the area on Sunday night.

All three communities had school closures Monday because of storm power outages or damage.

By shortly after 1 p.m., Evergy was working on 849 outages affecting 14,737 customers.

Gov. Laura Kelly issued a verbal state of disaster emergency proclamation Monday morning, activating the Kansas Response Plan and the ability to expedite state agency assistance to communities in need, according to a news release from the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department.

The buzz of chainsaws reverberated through hard-hit areas Monday as people cleared tree debris from lawns and streets.

In Halstead, wooden utility poles were snapped in half and laying in a wheat field.

Many streets had downed tree limbs and branches. Utility workers worked to assess the damage.

In Newton, the city was evaluating storm damage Monday afternoon.

“Many large trees are down and roads are blocked,” the city said in a social media post. “Please avoid the cemetery while we work to clean up.”

The city will begin collecting downed limbs and branches at 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

“They will start in Street Maintenance Area 1, east of South Pine between SE 14th Street and E First Street. They will work their way through each maintenance area in order (see map). Crews will do one pass down every street,” the city said.