Freak microburst hits Hutchinson area

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July 29, 2012|By Jim Grawe | KWCH Eyewitness News

(HUTCHINSON, Kan.) — A lot of people say it really caught them off guard in the midst of a brutal drought.

It was a Sunday of cleaning up after an intense microburst thunderstorm ripped through the Hutchinson area leaving a trail of debris.

Homes are damaged, trees are uprooted and electricity was knocked out. Westar Energy crews worked through the day to repair snapped power poles.

Several people tell Eyewitness News the thunder and hard-driving rain woke them up early in the morning. They say that for more than half an hour they listened to the storm bombard their homes.

"It was unreal!" Loren Dreiling says. "All of a sudden I'm up, and I hear the big strong wind come through, and all of a sudden the downpour of rain. It was coming through really, really hard, and next thing I know the barbeques on my back patio are all falling over and the trees are coming down!"

The storm also overturned a semi truck parked at a truck wash.

At least one street in a neighborhood west of Hutchinson remained blocked most of the day by a downed tree.

At one point some 500 homes were without electricity.

Some people living just northwest of Hutchinson say the storm dumped one and a half inches of badly needed rain.

There are no reports of injuries.

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