Power Outage in Ottawa, KS

Public reported power poles and a railroad crossing guard blown down. Time estimated based on radar.

Power lines down around city of Ottawa.

Power poles (15-20) were snapped along Rock Creek Road.

Power lines were snapped from Hamilton Road to Hamilton Terrace along Texas Road.

EM estimated flat ice accumulation around one quarter inch along with sleet accumulation around one inch. No damage or wide spread power outages were reported.

Power lines were reported down in the city of Ottawa.

Social media report of a 6 inch diameter tree limb down. Dispatch relayed multiple tree limbs and power lines down within the city. Time was estimated by radar.

Numerous small trees and power lines are down throughout the city of Ottawa.

Twenty power poles down near John Brown Road and Texas Road.

Power lines down due to wind gusts.

Wind gusts around 60 mph caused tree and power line damage through out the county.

Trees and power lines reported down across the city of Ottawa.

A tree was reported blown down onto a power line.

In Ottawa numerous large tree branches were blown down which also took down some power lines between Pomona and Ottawa. A tree was blown down onto a car, and shed doors were blown down near Centropolis.

Freezing rain began falling during the daytime hours on the 24th, with around .25 inch of ice accumulating on surfaces. By the evening of the 24th moderate to heavy snow fell across Franklin county. By the time the snow ended, places near Ottawa reported around 8 inches of snow. Wind gusts in and around that area were as high as 50 mph and trained spotters throughout Franklin county reported visibility less than 1/4 mile for several hours in the early morning hours on Christmas Day. Aside from the lowered visibility, blowing and drifting snow caused treacherous travel conditions. Many minor accidents were reported across Franklin county. Areas throughout the county experience brief power disruptions as a result of the storm.

Freezing rain began falling during the daytime hours on the 24th, with around .25 inch of ice accumulating on surfaces. By the evening of the 24th moderate to heavy snow fell across Franklin county. By the time the snow ended, places near Ottawa reported around 8 inches of snow. Wind gusts in and around that area were as high as 50 mph and trained spotters throughout Franklin county reported visibility less than 1/4 mile for several hours in the early morning hours on Christmas Day. Aside from the lowered visibility, blowing and drifting snow caused treacherous travel conditions. Many minor accidents were reported across Franklin county. Areas throughout the county experience brief power disruptions as a result of the storm.

Spotter reported that a corner of his roof had been torn off. Twelve to fifteen trees up to fifteen inches in diameter were reported to have been uprooted. Power poles were snapped and lying along Highway 59. The spotter's neighbor had a 24 inch diameter tree uprooted.

The Ottawa Herald narrated three thunderstorm wind damage reports along the path of this cell through the city of Ottawa. The first story, at the beginning of the damage path, lightning struck a tree which was then blown onto a vehicle sitting in a driveway with two passengers inside. The tree also took down powerlines. A tree was also blown down at another residence, which crushed the resident's gas line. A third story noted that a ten inch diameter tree fell on and crushed the hood of a car.

Wind damage was reported across northwestern portions of the county. The roof was blown off of a home at the intersection of Florida Road and Woodson Road. A barn roof was reported to have been blown off by strong winds near the intersection of Stafford Road and Florida Road. A tree fell onto a house on Labette Road to the west of Oattawa. Power outages were reported across the western part of the county.

Wind damage was reported across northwestern portions of the county. The roof was blown off of a home at the intersection of Florida Road and Woodson Road. A barn roof was reported to have been blown off by strong winds near the intersection of Stafford Road and Florida Road. A tree fell onto a house on Labette Road to the west of Oattawa. Power outages were reported across the western part of the county.

Power lines down on Kansas Hwy 68 between Ottawa and Pomona.

One mile east of the city of Pomona, estimated 65 to 70 mph winds blew over a car port and knocked down several power poles. Two Pomona area residents also reported that damage was done to livestock buildings.

High winds from 10pm the 5th through 10am the 7th caused minor damage in the city of Ottawa. The afternoon of the 6th, many branches were reported to have fallen along and onto roadways, and several trash cans were blown away. At 14:30pm CST, power was out for part of the city for approximately 45 minutes because high winds had blown eletrical lines together, and tree limbs had been blown down and onto other lines.

Lightning struck a tree in the yard of a home in Ottawa and peeled bark off two sides of the tree. The bolt traveled into the ground, where it struck a water line, blew the heads off the in-ground sprinkler system in the yard, and traveled along a fence surrounding the yard. The water line also tracked into the home, where all of the basement windows were blown out, and a few appliances were damaged. There were other isolated reports around town of power outages during the storm.

Beginning in the late afternoon hours of Thursday, a batch of showers and thunderstorms developed in Ottawa and Cloud Counties behind a cold front. At the time, the storms were not severe, but as they moved east southeast, winds in excess of 60 mph and hail to the size of quarters were reported.||Storm reports consisted of quarter-sized hail near the towns of Eskridge, Carbondale, and Scranton in Wabaunsee and Osage Counties respectively. As the storm moved over southern Wabaunsee County at 4:00 PM, a localized microburst with estimated winds in excess of 70 mph caused extensive damage to trees, power lines, and small structures. One report from the town of Chalk in Wabaunsee County had two-foot diameter trees uprooted, bales of hay blown apart, power poles downed, and a dome on top of a silo collapsed.

Thunderstorms developed over northeast and east central Kansas during the late afternoon of the 8th and continued into the early evening hours. Many of the storms became severe and produced numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds. The strong winds damaged homes, businesses, and took down power lines in various places. In addition, the storms produced 4 tornadoes in Jefferson county (mentioned separately) that damaged homes, businesses and power lines.

Thunderstorms developed over north central and northeast Kansas the late evening of the 18th and continued into the early morning hours of the 19th. Many of the storms became severe and produced numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds. The event culminated when a Bow Echo developed over north central Kansas in the vicinity of Clay Center and moved rapidly east producing a swath of strong winds and large hail about 20 miles wide generally in the vicinity of the Kansas River and Interstate 70 from Manhattan to Lawrence. The strongest wind recorded was an 82 mph wind gust as the storm passed the Manhattan Airport. Over 7,000 locations were without power for a time in Shawnee county. Between 100 and 120 residences in the town of Milford suffered damage, 2 of them major damage. Large hail and strong winds blew out windows and dented sidings to mobile homes across the area. There was numerous roof damage, power lines and trees downed along the path of the storm. A high school gym under construction in Alma suffered major damage. Preliminary damage estimates from the storm (not all documented above) totaled over 7 million dollars --- 5 million in Riley county, 2 million in Shawnee county, 388 thousand in Wabaunsee county, and 235 thousand in Pottawatomie county--- making this one of the worst storms in many years to strike northeast Kansas.