LJWorld.com

• Email
• iPod-friendly
• Print

With the Fourth of July fireworks silenced for another year, nature filled the noise void Monday with a series of thunderstorms that caused damage in northern Kansas.

Winds up to 50 mph and penny-to-nickel-sized hail was reported in Lawrence, said 6News meteorologist Jennifer Schack. The storm brought 0.32 of an inch of rain at Lawrence Municipal Airport.

The storms packing straight-line winds hit northeast Kansas about 3 a.m. Monday, cutting power to the city of Leavenworth and half of Tonganoxie, said Joy Moser, the spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Emergency Management. The winds downed power poles, large trees and caused some structural damage.

By noon, streets in Leavenworth had been reopened, Moser said.

In northwest Kansas, the Phillips County towns of Speed, Glade and Kirwin were left without power after violent weather struck about 11 p.m. Sunday, Moser said. Winds flipped a small plane at the airport outside Phillipsburg, she said.

In Rooks County, a storefront was damaged in Plainville after the storm hit Sunday night. Eighteen power poles were snapped along a 10-mile stretch from Plainville to Stockton, Moser said.

There were no reports of injuries from the storms, which brought heavy rain, hail and high winds.

"It seems like this year they've come with a little more frequency and maybe little more strength," Moser said.

On Monday, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declared a state of disaster emergency for the counties of Atchison, Butler, Jefferson, Labette, Leavenworth, Montgomery, Sedgwick and Shawnee.

Mark Bongartz lights fireworks on his lawn as a natural light show goes on behind his house in Ellis, about 16 miles west of Hays. Thunderstorms late Sunday and early Monday interrupted some firework displays across the state, with high winds causing power outages to thousands of Kansans.

More than 3,400 customers lost electricity in those counties, the Kansas Department of Emergency Management said in a news release. The declaration allows utility employees to work longer hours to get power restored, the department said.

Gina Penzig, a spokeswoman for Westar Energy in Topeka, said power had been restored by Monday morning to all but about 230 customers in Leavenworth.

About 600 customers were still without power in Topeka and an additional 1,800 in Wichita after weekend storms, Penzig said. At its peak, 21,000 customers were in the dark in Wichita.

"Saturday night's storm damage was from lightning. Last night was more wind and trees," she said.

Streets, 911 switchboard flooded after downpour (07-03-04) High water, high drama (07-03-04) Photo Gallery Latest video forecast from 6News Latest forecast Flood safety tipe from FEMA

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the Arkansas River near Arkansas City. The river was expected to crest Monday morning at 15.6 feet, flooding some agricultural areas. Elsewhere, flood watches were posted throughout the state as additional rains were expected to send creeks and streams out of their banks.

Meanwhile, authorities in Cherokee County have declared a local disaster emergency in the wake of violent Fourth of July weather that crossed southeast Kansas, according to Moser.

Penzig said power was expected to be completely restored in Oswego in Labette County by Monday night, where fewer than 30 were still without electricity.

Rain totals for the 24-hour period ending at 6 a.m. Monday ranged from 0.72 inches in Topeka to 1.13 in Russell. The National Weather Service was forecasting additional thunderstorms -- some severe -- through Monday night and into early Tuesday across the state.