Trees take brunt of wind storm

A boy takes his dog for a walk after Thursday afternoon’s storm, passing a tree that blocked 9th Street just off of National Avenue.

Tammy Helm

Area first response agencies reported downed trees, scattered power outages and a few vehicle accidents during a Thursday evening storm that blew through Bourbon County. The fast-acting storm, which arrived about 4:30 p.m., brought rain, lightning and heavy winds.

Fort Scott Police Department Capt. Shaun West said the department fielded several traffic complaints “as far as power lines and trees.”

“We also had a few alarms with issues with power lines,” West said. “There were traffic complaints with debris and trees in the roadway.”

West said there were “trees down in the county as well.” He said some minor damage was reported, including a downed car port, but no injuries were reported.

“The rest of our calls were traffic complaints, trees down, power lines down and some alarms from the power surges,” he said. “It was all centered around that time period.”

Fort Scott Fire Chief Paul Ballou said the majority of the department’s calls during the storm were for downed trees, tree limbs and power lines.

“It was mainly a lot of tree damage, trees down and tree limbs,” he said. “It was pretty much city wide. It took some power lines down. That’s mainly what our runs were.”

Ballou said firefighters doused a small grass fire that occurred due to a downed power line near 18th Street. He said there were also scattered power outages reported. Winds from the storm also bent a utility pole and “pulled power lines” down at Taco Bell.

He said the city’s public works department was out Thursday night and Friday morning to remove debris from streets.

Bourbon County Sheriff Bill Martin said his department took reports of power outages around the Uniontown area.

“That was the only thing reported by my deputies,” he said.

Martin said there was also a report of a vehicle accident on U.S. Highway 69 south of Fort Scott near U.S. 69 and Birch Road “around the time of the storm.” He said the accident was worked by the Kansas Highway Patrol. It was not known whether the vehicle accident was related to the storm.

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