Wyandotte County Lake back open following Sunday night storms
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Wyandotte County Lake is officially back open Thursday after being closed since Monday due to damage caused by storms late Sunday night and early Monday morning.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County said the park at 91st and Leavenworth Road was officially back open Thursday morning in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
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Sunday’s storms caused extensive damage, including fallen trees, power lines and significant damage to some of the docks.
“The most significant damage, which you actually can’t tell anymore, but there was a fairly new covered dock that had 14 slips,” said Angel Ferrera, director of Parks and Recreation with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.
Ferrera told FOX4 that their main concern about keeping the park open earlier this week was power lines that were damaged and low enough for people to grab from the ground. She said that the clean-up was a combined effort between multiple agencies in the county and city.
“Our team has done an awesome job mobilizing quickly to be able to get it cleaned up,” she said. “That was our team’s number one priority on Monday. What do we need to do to make sure that we can get the park back open safely?”
BPU crews worked throughout the week to restore downed powerlines damaged by the storms.
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Michael Judy lives near the lake. He stopped in Thursday to check out the aftermath of the storms and see what trees were damaged. He said at his house, the storm wasn’t very noticeable.
“When it blew in Sunday night, like I said, it was basically pretty tame,” he noticed. “There’s nothing, nothing. And the next minute, bam, it’s there. And that’s what apparently happened over the lake here.”
He noticed the boat dock that had been scrapped and a few old trees that had been toppled over and removed. He noticed all the work happening in the park from his house.
“They did work. I mean, you know, it was closed first thing Monday morning and even as just as recently as yesterday,” he said.
Both Ferrera and Judy are happy to see the lake open for the holiday weekend.
“I can’t say enough about our team and how fast they work to get it into this shape and be able to be open for the weekend,” Ferrera.
Judy said if you plan to come to the lake over the weekend, stake your spot out early.
“Picnic spots where there’s shelters or just tables out here at a premium, they’re all taken up,” he said.
Fishing and boating hours at the lake are from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. The 400-acre lake is stocked with rainbow trout, catfish, crappie, small and large mouth bass and wiper.
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