OTTAWA — Another series of powerful storms packing lightning and winds up to 100 miles an hour pummeled eastern Kansas Monday afternoon. In Franklin County and the surrounding area, winds ranging from 70 to 80 miles an hour damaged buildings, ripped down trees and limbs and tore down power lines, leaving hundreds without electricity during the evening. Winds of around 80 miles an hour blew a trailer onto U.S. 59 at Princeton, briefly blocking the highway, and destroying a barn near Princeton. Some Ottawa residents, and about a thousand customers of Lyon-Coffey Electric Cooperative in six counties including Franklin, Anderson and Osage, lost power. Power was restored to most people this morning. Lyon-Coffey Electric said all major outages in its service area have been resolved. Lyon-Coffey crews will be back in the field today to make permanent repairs to the lines and poles that were damaged by yesterday’s powerful storms. If you are a Lyon-Coffey member and you don’t have power, call 1-800-748-7395. The Kansas Division of Emergency Management said the storm caused damage at Beto Junction and blew a car into a creek in Osage County.
