County declares disaster

OTTAWA — Franklin County has declared a state of disaster because of this week’s storms. Franklin County emergency management director Alan Radcliffe said the disaster was declared because more than 3,000 customers lost power in Franklin County and because of the damages to several county roads. The declaration would qualify the county for reimbursements for storm damages if the state asks for federal help, he said. Several houses and farm buildings along the Franklin-Anderson county line received significant damage from winds that reached an estimated 80 miles an hour, he said.
Radcliffe said he was told that utilities expect to have power to be restored in the Richmond and Lane areas soon. Utility crews were working early Wednesday morning to restore power to its customers in southern Franklin County. Most of the remaining outages in east central Kansas were in southern Franklin County, northern Anderson County and southwestern Miami County.