Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Hail litters a portion of East 2nd Street in Kimball early last Wednesday evening. Winds blew up to 50 miles per hour at that time.
Kimball County received more rain in the last week than it had all the previous weeks of the year combined and saw westbound Interstate 80 closed for a couple hours last Friday night.
Although no official records are kept for Kimball, Rob Cox of the National Weather Service in Cheyenne reported that the area received just over 2 inches of rain last week.
Cox said that Cheyenne is about normal in terms of overall precipitation for this time of the year, while Sidney is about 2 inches above normal.
The National Weather Service received reports of one inch of hail in Kimball last Wednesday, April 15, with wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour in between 5 and 5:30 p.m.
More rainfall can be expected late this week and into the weekend according to Cox.
The same system that brought Kimball the much-needed rainfall caused havoc on I-80 in Wyoming, forcing road closure on Friday due to accidents.
The interstate was closed for just a couple of hours at the Kimball exits, according to Kimball County Sheriff Harry Gillway.
During that time, Gillway said, more than 100 vehicles were diverted off of the interstate and into Kimball. More than half of those vehicles were semi-trucks, he said.
The Kimball Police Department assisted with diverting and directing that traffic, with Officer Melvin Bouse parking trucks at the Frenchman Valley Coop lot and along Front Street.
"We do have a plan, if we are needed and requested to assist," Kimball Police Chief Darren Huff said.
Because Gillway was told that the highway would be closed all night and into the next day, he began setting up an emergency shelter at Trinity United Methodist Church in Kimball, with the help of the local Red Cross.
"Volunteers were ready, and prepared to man it," Gillway said. "About the time it was all set up, the highway was reopened."
It did not take crews as long as previously thought to clean up the wreckage on the interstate and vehicles were again allowed to travel westbound.
With the combined efforts of the Kimball Police Department and the Kimball County Sheriff's Office, Gillway said the process usually goes very smoothly. He added that the sheriff's office was able to help direct truck traffic back onto the highway as it opened back up.
"Everybody is usually very cooperative," Gillway said. "Sheriff vehicles are equipped with CB radios which make it easier to communicate with all the truck traffic."
