By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — Forecasts called for a slight chance of storms in Barton County Thursday evening. No one expected the deluge that arrived or the downed power poles that followed. Frey Street on the east side of Great Bend was hit particularly hard with broken power poles in the stretch from 24th Street to the crossing at 281 Bypass.
"We lost the entire city of Great Bend," said Wheatland Electric Director of Member Services and Corporate Communication Alli Conine. "Once we lost that 115 line from Sunflower, which is where we get our power, we lost the entire city."
Brent Cox lives just half a block from Frey Street and was on the phone with his mother when the storm hit. Some 10 poles were downed in a half-mile stretch along Frey Street.
"As I was talking to her on Facetime on the phone, her power went out, and my power went out at the exact same time," he said. "I was in the kitchen looking out my back window, out my back yard, and I heard a big zapping sound. That's when all the power went out. I didn't hear the poles cracking or anything like that. I didn't hear any of that."
The Great Bend High School soccer game was still in the first half against Liberal when lightning caused what was to be a 30-minute delay just before 7 p.m. Within 30 minutes, the city was hit hard by wind, rain, and small hail. Harper Camperland on the east edge of town reported some campers were blown over. Flooding was reported on 10th Street at the McKinley and Washington Street intersections.
Weather Underground reports the temperature in Great Bend fell from 92 degrees at 5:56 p.m., to 68 degrees an hour later. The National Weather Services reports that seven-tenths of an inch of rain fell during the brief storm.
At 7:53 p.m., Wheatland Electric reported on social media that poles were down. Despite the severe damage, Wheatland restored power to most of the city by 9:20. All sub-stations were operational by 10:15, and Wheatland continued to work on isolated outages late into the evening.
"It's our top priority but our keeping our linemen safe is also our top priority," Conine said. "They're out in the conditions as long as it's safe for them to do so. They're restoring power as quickly and safely as possible."