Overnight storm knocks out power to Newkirk

By ADAM CATLIN
NHJ Editor

An overnight storm knocked out power to all of Newkirk and beyond early Tuesday with more than 1,700 customers in Kay County without power for several hours as crews searched for the source of the outage.
A strong storm passed through around midnight, bringing at least a half-inch of rainfall, hail and high winds.
The loss of electricity also affected the Kay County Courthouse as Sheriff Steve Kelly announced the building would be closed Tuesday morning until power was restored. The city building was operating by generator Tuesday morning.
Newkirk Fire Chief Adam Longcrier reported just after midnight Tuesday that power was out all over town and that phones were down at the fire department. He asked that citizens stay in their homes and to dial 911 or the police phone at 580-362-2414 if the needed assistance.
Just a few hours later, Longcrier said that a power pole at Peckham Road and W Street had been found snapped in half.
“This is going to be the cause of the power outage in the City Of Newkirk,” Longcrier announced on social media. “We have been told that this has caused a loss of power all the way to the (Oklahoma Gas & Electric) power station. (Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority) crews have been dispatched to repair the issue.”
He added that phones were working once again at the Fire Department.
But at 4 a.m. Tuesday, Longcrier gave another update, saying power crews from OMPA and OG&E were still continuing to search for the cause of the power outage.
“There’s still no estimate of when power will return, but we were told it’s going to be a while,” Longcrier said.
Kay Electric Cooperative gave an update just after 5 a.m. that their personnel were still trying to locate and isolate the problem. They added that the Newkirk, New Braman, and Chilocco substations were currently offline.
Longcrier gave another update just after 8 a.m. saying that a pole was being replaced on Peckham Road, but crews were still trying to find the cause of the power outage.
“They believe the issue is around the Chikaskia River,” he said. “The city electrical superintendent is keeping in contact with those crews and trying to get updates of when the power may be restored to the City Of Newkirk,” he said.
Power outages were also reported to the south in Ponca City as a result of the storm.
To the north in Cowley county, 146 customers were without power just before 6 a.m. That number had dropped to 20 by 8 a.m. There were also originally 1,300 customers in Winfield without power as a result of the storm that passed through there overnight. Those outages, according to the city’s website, were due to significant line loss and poles down on the west side of Winfield.
By sunrise, that number had dropped to 78 remaining outages. The city’s website said those would likely be an extended outage with many other city customers still without power and will likely require an electrician to make repairs at the house to restore service.
Parts of Arkansas City received an inch and a half of rainfall overnight.
The outage in Cowley County also temporarily knocked 95.9 FM off the air.