Evergy outage follows 113 mph Salina Airport gust

Evergy crews faced widespread outages after severe storms hit north-central Kansas on June 8. A 113 mph gust at the Salina Airport set a record there and left around 35,000 Saline County residents without power.

The storms developed during the early evening and moved southeast into central and northeast Kansas, bringing damaging straight-line winds. Officials said thousands of homes were without power in Salina as tree and structure damage spread across the city.

Salina Airport Record

The Salina Airport gust reached 113 mph, the highest wind gust ever recorded there. That reading came as the storms pushed through Salina and other communities in the region, including Smolan, Gypsum and Lindsborg.

Other wind measurements showed how widespread the damage zone was. A 98 mph gust was measured near Smolan, and an anemometer near Gypsum recorded 111 mph.

Damage Across Saline County

In Salina, the winds caused extensive tree and structure damage. Lindsborg also saw extensive tree damage, and power was offline city-wide there after the storm line moved through.

Brittany Curtis described the storm’s arrival at a Walmart in Salina, saying, "Brittany Curtis was about to leave the Walmart in Salina when the storm came through." The scene around her matched the numbers on the weather instruments: a fast-moving line of severe wind that reached 90-100 mph in places and cut power for large parts of Saline County.

For residents, the immediate task was simple: wait for restoration work while staying clear of damaged trees and structures. The strongest gust on record at the airport and the scale of the outages showed how far the storm reached across the county in one evening.