1 Dead, Extensive Damage Reported After Strong Winds Move Through Pawnee County

Law enforcement and emergency crews are responding to storm damage near Pawnee Lake after strong winds moved through the area.

According to weather data, winds reached between 70 and 75 mph. The Pawnee County Sheriff has reported that there has been at least one fatality. That victim has not been identified. At least one person is said to be extricated from an overturned travel trailer. There are downed powerlines, and outages across the city.

The Pawnee Public Schools district has closed classes for Friday due to the damage reported across the city.

Sheriff Darrin Varnell spoke about the damage Thursday night and said that anywhere from 80 to 100 first responders were on the scene.

“We do have a trailer of debris going east from [Pawnee Ake]. We've got some reports of damage here and there but have not gotten reports of any significant damage other than this travel trailer. Trees down everywhere, power lines down everywhere, lots of communities [are] without power,” said Varnell.

While city officials have said the damage could be from a possible tornado, that has not been confirmed by the weather data available. Regardless, the city is encouraging people to stay in their homes as emergency crews work to identify all of the areas impacted.

“Give us room to work. Try to avoid the lake area for now. Be cautious. If you have to be out and about, there's going to be power crews out there trying to restore power to everybody's homes. And just be very observant if you're out and about driving down the road. Try not to run over any live power lines or, you know, have any crashes with the emergency crews that are out and about,” said Varnell.

This is a developing story. Refresh the page for updates.