Storm bringing 70 mph winds cuts power to 10,000+ Topeka homes and businesses

A storm bringing 70 mph winds swept through the Topeka area Tuesday morning, leaving thousands of homes and businesses without electrical power.

More than 10,000 Topeka-area customers of the Evergy electrical utility lacked power at 8:15 a.m. as a result of 184 different outages, according to the power outage map website it maintains.

By 5:45 p.m., the number of customers affected had dropped to 762, resulting from 75 outages, the map said.

Hit refresh to see the latest radar loop from the Topeka office of the National Weather Service.

Wind speeds from Tuesday morning storm in Topeka area

The website of the Topeka office of the National Weather Service said it received reports of the following wind speeds:

• 70 mph at 4:50 a.m. at Westmoreland in Pottawatomie County.

• 70 mph at 5:11 a.m. five miles east of Silver Lake, where visibility was reported to be "near zero" as a result of heavy rains.

• 70 mph at 5:43 a.m. two miles north of Lawrence in Douglas County and at 5:47 a.m. one mile south of Valley Falls in Jefferson County.

• 68 mph at 5:25 a.m., one mile east/southeast of the unincorporated community of Pauline in southern Shawnee County and also at the weather service's office in northeast Topeka near Philip Billard Municipal Airport.

• 65 mph at 5:22 a.m., six miles north/northwest of Topeka, with tree limbs reported as having been downed as a result.

• 62 mph at 5:22 a.m., two miles north of Pauline.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Storm bringing 70 mph winds cuts power to 10,000+ Topeka homes and businesses