BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org
CHERRYVALE — A massive thunderstorm that brought 80 to 100 mile per hour gales and several inches of rain to Cherryvale on Monday night left a mess for area residents to clean up.
Even though numerous trees fell victim to the fierce winds, the total amount of damage is not believed enough to warrant a disaster declaration by the state or national government, said Jim Miller, Montgomery County’s emergency preparedness director.
“It looks to be primarily tree damage,” said Miller, “and the amount of damage isn’t enough to meet the state or federal criteria to attain government assistance.”
The storm rolled into Cherryvale between 7 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., and brought wind speeds of more than 75 miles per hour.
Doug Heady, a meteorologist with KOAM TV in Pittsburg, said he believed the winds were part of a “microburst” — which is described as massive downburst of descending air from a supercell thunderstorm.
“Just imagine spilling water from a glass and watching it hit the floor,” said Heady. “The water hits the floor and then spills out in all directions. That’s what happens in a microburst: the winds fall quickly from a cell, hit the ground and then spread out.”
In most cases, a microburst results in straight-line winds, which often can create damage over a wide area, he said.
That’s precisely what most Cherryvale residents viewed in the aftermath of Monday’s powerful storm. Tree limbs fell to the ground in most residential yards, and as many as 17 different properties had power line damage as a result of falling tree branches or the high wind. Electrical power was cut to a wide area of Cherryvale. Westar Energy crews had power restored to most of the community shortly after midnight.
Several large trees — estimated at being more than 70 years of age — were totally uprooted and tossed in the winds, an indication of the storm’s ferocity.
“Cherryvale ended up being very lucky because one of those falling limbs or trees could have easily hurt someone,” said Miller, noting that no injuries were reported from the storm.
Structural damage was limited to several sheds and barns. Corrugated metal on a large barn at the Stub Rhodes property east of Cherryvale was pulled away from its rafters and spread over a neighbor’s yard. A large shed at the Kevin King resident northeast of Cherryvale in Labette County also sustained heavy damage.
The USD 447 Board of Education meeting at the district office, 618 E. Fourth, had just started when the electrical power went out. The power outage prompted school board members and school officials to continue their meeting by candlelight and flashlights.
Greg McDanel, Cherryvale city administrator, said city crews were put in clean-up mode late Monday night and worked throughout the day on Tuesday to remove limbs.
“The city’s fire-rescue, police and public works departments did a fantastic job responding to calls, assessing damage, removing limbs and assisting the public through this storm,” said McDanel. “The city brush dump has been open all day this week, and the public works department has been around collecting any limbs and brush that was in the street or placed near the curb.”
Ironically, Monday’s storm came 15 years and two weeks from another storm of similar size and scope. It was on July 25, 1995, when a powerful wind storm — with similar straight-line winds — blasted Cherryvale, leaving the community with numerous downed trees and a citywide power outage.
