GARNETT — Not only did wind-measuring monitors help put Anderson County in the running for a commercial wind farm, they helped Anderson County get federal disaster relief. Tradewinds Energy, Overland Park, installed two wind-measuring towers in the southern part of the county to see if a wind farm was feasible. However, Donna Schmit, Anderson County engineer at the time, said the towers clocked winds of nearly 100 miles an hour from last July’s microburst. The microburst left a 24-mile-long trail of destruction five miles wide in Anderson County. County commissioner Dudley Feuerborn told the Anderson County Review that the wind data was given to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and there was no argument. The county received more than $90,000 in federal disaster aid as a result. Tradewind Energy plans to build the Deer Creek wind farm in Anderson County if Kansas City-area utilities agree to buy the power.
Thursday, May 20, 7 a.m.
