By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Wheatland Electric continues to work on restoring power to the city of Great Bend. According to the Wheatland website, more than 9,000 customers, or 100 percent of customers, in Great Bend are without power though portions of the city's power were restored before midnight Sunday evening.
"We do still have quite a few members that are without power, said Wheatland Director of Member Services and Corporate Communications. "Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, our power supplier, worked through the night, as well as Wheatland crews. They continue to work to repair downed transmission structures in Great Bend. We are hoping that repairs are going to be made late morning/early afternoon. If everything goes well, we should have power restored hopefully by mid-afternoon."
A tornado warning was issued for Barton County and the city of Great Bend just after 6 p.m. Sunday, and strong winds and hail toppled many power poles and lines in the area. A Wheatland crew from Garden City will be in Great Bend Monday to assist local workers. Wheatland will reassess by the end of the day to determine if more outside assistance is required.
"We are starting to reenergize some of the lines right now," Conine said. "As we're doing so, more damage is becoming apparent. There might be still isolated outages. There might be a chance your neighbor has power and you don't. That's why we encourage our members to call that number just so we know."
Conine said Wheatland has automated metering, so the company often knows of outages before customers do. During regular business hours, call the Great Bend office at (620) 793-4223 to report outages or any damage to lines. Outside of business hours, call 1-800-ON-AGAIN (1-800-662-4246).