Wrecks pile up in Sedgwick County after snow, ice

Dozens of accident reports were called into Sedgwick County Emergency Communications within a 12-hour period of severe weather from Wednesday night to Thursday morning.

In Wichita, Wednesday’s snowfall of 0.4 inches broke a 114-year-old record of Oct. 30 snow accumulation kept by the National Weather Service. Early Thursday morning temperatures of 19 degrees, registered at Eisenhower National Airport, nearly set a record for Oct. 31. The temperature was 1 degree above the 1993 low of 18 degrees. The harsh weather caused first responders to activate the Emergency Accident Reporting Plan at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

EARP allows callers to report a wreck and drive off, if they can, or exchange information and leave if the crash involves multiple vehicles.

In a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday night, a Wichita Police Department officer said that a police vehicle had been hit and officers responded to at least 10 crashes along Kellogg.

The EARP ended around 8 a.m. Thursday.

Officer Charley Davidson said 911 took 43 calls for accidents in Wichita between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. It’s unclear how many of those were caused by the weather. But Davidson said the same 12-hour period the day before, when the weather was clear, had 11 calls for accidents.

The Park City Police Department said in a Facebook post that an officer was nearly struck by a vehicle that spun out of control. The department’s post included a video of the spinning vehicle.

The Kansas Highway Patrol also reported an abnormal amount of wrecks in Sedgwick County. Again, the weather’s impact on the wrecks is unclear.

The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office responded to at least one wreck caused by ice.

This story was originally published October 31, 2019 at 4:29 PM.