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School Districts, McConnell AFB Prepare For Storms

State Farm, flickr Creative Commons

Forecasters are calling for an afternoon and evening of dangerous severe weather in south-central Kansas.

The predictions and warnings prompted some local schools and businesses to begin preparations early on.

Wichita State University shut down shortly after noon Tuesday due to the elevated threat of heavy winds, tornadoes, and giant hail. The campus shuttle system was cancelled for the remainder of the day, and a baseball game was postponed. WSU expects to resume its normal schedule Wednesday.

After-school activities and sports were cancelled at many schools, including Wichita Public Schools, Maize, Andover, Derby, Haysville and Ark City.

Wichita Public Schools Safety Services Director Terri Moses says her district is ready for a storm, with safe rooms in nearly every school.

"We know where your children are," she says. "We have a building that can house your children and we have a building that can keep them safe. We have administrators and teachers that are well-trained and even the students know where to go."

McConnell Air Force Base officials moved its fleet of refueling tanks out of the area to prevent them being damaged during the storm.

The aircraft were sent to Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington, and Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. Aircraft and support personnel will return when conditions are safe.

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Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar

 
To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

 

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.