Post updated at 1:16 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 1:
More than 16,000 Lawrence folks lost electricity, numerous power lines were down and trees fell across town Wednesday night as a severe thunderstorm hit the area.
Lawrence saw wind gusts of more than 70 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka.
Update:
• Power restored for many in Lawrence following severe storm; some may be out until Friday evening, Aug. 1, 2024
“Restoration efforts will begin as soon as it is safe to begin working outages,” Evergy said in a statement on its outage map. “As we get teams in the field, we will get a better understanding of the extent of the damage and overall restoration times.”
Don’t go near downed power lines, Evergy warns. For emergencies, call 911.
The NWS had Lawrence under a severe thunderstorm warning through 10:45 p.m. Wednesday.
NWS recommends going to the lowest floor possible and staying away from windows for the duration of severe storms.
Related coverage:
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
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Severe weather resources
National Weather Service local office (Topeka):
• Find the latest weather forecast info and severe weather advisories for the Lawrence area at this link.
• In the event of rapidly changing severe weather, such as tornadoes, the NWS posts frequent updates on Twitter, @NWSTopeka. You do not need a Twitter account to see tweets from NWS.
• NWS is also on Facebook, facebook.com/NWSTopeka.
• Call 785-234-2592 to hear the forecast.
Douglas County Emergency Management:
• Follow @DgCoEM on Twitter or Douglas County, KS- Emergency Management on Facebook, facebook.com/dgcoem.
• Sign up to receive emergency alerts at dgcoks.org/emalerts.
• Find lots of tips on severe weather and other emergency preparedness on DgCoEM’s website at douglascountyks.org/emergency-management.
• Report storm damage (for non-emergencies only, and after storm danger has passed) by calling the nonemergency dispatch line at 785-843-0250 or 785-832-7509.
Evergy outages:
• Check the status of power outages on the Evergy outage map, outagemap.evergy.com.
• Report a power outage at evergy.com/report-outage, or call 800-544-4857.
• For down powerlines, call 911.
City of Lawrence snow info:
• The city has snow information and a map at lawrenceks.org/snow that shows information about road conditions and snow plow locations. The city typically begins snow and ice control for residential roadways when 2 or more inches of snowfall or icing occurs.
Air quality:
• Check the current air quality index in Lawrence and elsewhere through AirNow, airnow.gov.
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Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
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