RILEY COUNTY (KSNT) – Following the severe storms on Saturday night, Manhattan, Marysville and surrounding areas experienced damage to homes and buildings, road closures and loss of power.
KSNT 27 News Storm Track Weather
Some areas in Riley County are still without power Sunday morning according to the Riley County Police Department. Evergy reported more than 25,000 outages in their service area overnight, many of which came from Manhattan and Riley County.
Crews were working overnight to clear debris and repair their equipment.
As of 10 a.m., Evergy has restored about 80% of their customer’s power. People can report outages by clicking here.
Many areas, like River Pond Campground at Tuttle Creek State Park, will be closed until at least Monday due to damage, according to the RCPD. Anderson Avenue between North 52nd and Kitten Creek Road was closed from around 9:30 p.m. till about 9:30 a.m. Tuttle Creek Boulevard reopened around 10:30 a.m.
On the Kansas State University campus, Greek life houses were hit by the storm causing a loss of power and uprooting entire trees. Chi Omega and Kappa Alpha Theta were severely damaged. 27 News crews witnessed Emergency Management patrolling the city and assessing the damage Saturday night.
RCPD said five buildings on McCain Lane were condemned due to their damage as a result of the storm. Appraisers are on the scene now to determine further damage. There was also notable damage to the Public Works Shop on Highway 24. RCPD is seeing a lot of uprooted trees and downed powerlines.
There were also three single-family homes in the area that were badly damaged. The families were displaced but did not require assistance.
A representative from the US National Weather Service of Topeka will be visiting to perform an assessment of the storm damage in Riley County. There has been no determination made of whether tornadic winds or straight winds were the cause.
Anyone with storm debris can drop it off, free of charge, at the Riley County Transfer Station at 1881 Henton Road.
In Marysville, severe damage destroyed buildings downtown after it hit the area. A disaster relief group was in Marysville Sunday morning to help assist people with cutting down trees and limbs. Their first priority was to cut down limbs for elderly people.
Marysville Police Chief Matt Simpson says the heavy rain stopped his team from being able to see the tornado at all.
“Visibility was zero,” Simpson said. “The rain was so hard that we could see barely a foot in front of us at the time that most of the damage occurred.”
Around 20 J.F. Electric trucks pulled into town to help with additional assistance on Sunday.
“We’re thankful there’s no injuries and everybody in our community is safe,” Simpson said.
He says the wind and rain is the worst he’s ever seen.
Dan Wassenberg is the owner of MarKan Sales, a Pepsi bottling company in downtown Marysville. One wall of his shop was completely destroyed in the storm. Wassenberg says he was in Manhattan and someone sent him a photo of the damage to his building. He quickly made his way to Marysville.
“I couldn’t hardly believe it,” Wassenberg said. “These buildings have been here so long, I didn’t think anything could ever do this to them.”
His priority now is to make the building safe for everyone. He’s thankful for the loyalty of his employees.
“When I got here I had like four employees here, all of them 25-30 year veterans,” Wassenberg said. “They were taking care of things.”
People in Marysville that are still without power can go to the MPD office at 207 S. 10th Street or call 785-562-2343.
“It’s a little scary but we’ll figure it out,” Wassenberg said. “It’s just going to be really inconvenient.”
No injuries have been reported in either area.
